Q

/[kuː]/ character

Letters

1 characters

Frequency Rank

#4,458

in German word usage

Misspellings

0

tracked variants

Confusables

8

similar word pairs

Q is aGermancharacter. It means: 17. Buchstabe des lateinischen Alphabets, entspricht dem frühgriechischen Qoppa (später verschmolzen mit Kappa); kommt im Deutschen nur in der Verbindung qu (IPA: [kv], [kw]) vor Pronounced [kuː]. It ranks #4,458 in German word frequency. Often confused with qm and QR.

Key facts for Q
PropertyValue
HeadwordQ
LanguageGerman
Part of speechCharacter
IPA[kuː]
Letters1
Frequency rank#4,458
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs8
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of Q in German word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for Q is 1 letters long, classified as acharacter, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [kuː]. Corpus data places it at rank #4,458 in overall German word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for Q in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable German patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "qm", "QR", "Qi", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct German form is Q, spelled Q, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    17. Buchstabe des lateinischen Alphabets, entspricht dem frühgriechischen Qoppa (später verschmolzen mit Kappa); kommt im Deutschen nur in der Verbindung qu (IPA: [kv], [kw]) vor
  2. 2
    römisches Zahlzeichen für 500 (das später zu D wurde)

This word in other languages

Frequency rank: #4,458 in German

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Q"?
"Q" is spelled Q. The IPA pronunciation is [kuː].
What does "Q" mean?
As a character, "Q" means: 17. Buchstabe des lateinischen Alphabets, entspricht dem frühgriechischen Qoppa (später verschmolzen mit Kappa); kommt im Deutschen nur in der Verbindung qu (IPA: [kv], [kw]) vor
What words are commonly confused with "Q"?
"Q" is commonly confused with "qm", "QR", "Qi". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "Q"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Q" is [kuː]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Q" come from?
"Q" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby German words

Other entries that begin with the letter Q in our German index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.