quebravsqueimaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: quebra is a adjective, queima is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“quebra” is an adjective and “queima” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,904
“quebra” frequency rank
#5,135
“queima” frequency rank
8039
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature quebra queima
Definition ruim ato ou efeito de queimar

Where the eye mixes quebra and queima

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
quebra
6 ch
queima

Look-alike desk: quebra vs queima

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: quebra is /ˈkɛ.bɾɐ/ while queima is /ˈkɐj.mɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8039, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

quebra is recorded at frequency rank #2,904, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈkɛ.bɾɐ/. queima is at rank #5,135, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɐj.mɐ/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 8039, this pair ranks #65,893 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of quebra vs queima

Shared letters: aequ. Private to "quebra": br. Private to "queima": im.

"quebra" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "queima" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • quebraqeubra · qquebra · qubera · quebar · quebbra · querba · uqebra
  • queimaqeuima · qqueima · queiam · queimma · quemia · quiema · uqeima

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "quebra" and "queima" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "quebra" is an adjective and "queima" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "quebra" vs "queima" - which ranks higher?
"quebra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,904 in our Portuguese list, against #5,135 for "queima". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "quebra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "queima" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #65,893 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "quebra" and "queima" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "queima vs quina". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #65,893 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list