key vs qui, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“key” is a noun and “qui” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,577
“key” frequency rank: #18,668
“qui” frequency rank: 27245
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	key	qui
Definition	Schlüssel	der, die, das; wer, was

Same sound, different letters: key vs qui

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. No shared letter run - the mix-up is pure homophony.

3 ch

key

3 ch

qui

Ear matches; page differs - key and qui

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: key and qui carry the same recorded pronunciation, [kiː]. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other apronoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27245, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

key is recorded at frequency rank #8,577, classified as anoun, pronounced [kiː]. qui is at rank #18,668, tagged as apron, pronounced [ki].

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 27245, this pair ranks #1,804,890 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of key vs qui

Shared letters: none. Private to "key": eky. Private to "qui": iqu.

"key" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "qui" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "key" for "qui" ever safe?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "key" is a noun and "qui" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "key" or "qui"?

"key" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,577 in our German list, against #18,668 for "qui". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

"key" and "qui" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

Full dictionary entry for "key" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "qui" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #1,804,890 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"key" and "qui" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "qui vs Quint". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,804,890 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.