quervsqueueWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: quer is a adverb, queue is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“quer” is an adverb and “queue” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,149
“quer” frequency rank
#49,182
“queue” frequency rank
53331
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature quer queue
Definition schräg, von der einen zur anderen Seite ein Anhang am Ende des Körpers von Wirbeltieren

Where the eye mixes quer and queue

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
quer
5 ch
queue

Visual trap between quer and queue

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: quer is [kveːɐ̯] while queue is [kø]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53331, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

quer is recorded at frequency rank #4,149, classified as anadv, pronounced [kveːɐ̯]. queue is at rank #49,182, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kø].

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 53331, this pair ranks #1,062,194 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of quer vs queue

Shared letters: equ. Private to "quer": r. Private to "queue": -.

"quer" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "queue" · 5 letters · shape CVVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • querqeur · qquer · querr · qure · uqer
  • queueqeuue · qqueue · queeu · quuee · uqeue

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "quer" and "queue" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "quer" is an adverb and "queue" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "quer" or "queue" show up more?
"quer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,149 in our German list, against #49,182 for "queue". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "quer" and "queue" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "quer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "queue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,062,194 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "quer" and "queue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "queren vs queue". 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 #1,062,194 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list