qui

[ki]

/[ki]/ pron

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“qui” sits in 15 confusable pairs (corpus #18,668) as a pronoun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#18,668
frequency rank, German
216
“Q” headwords
15
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - der, die, das; wer, was

Corpus desk

Index DE-qui · qui · German

qui · rank #18,668 · 0 variants · 15 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #18,668
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 15 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 216
  • PHOTO-FINISH Puma

Nearest frequency peer: Puma (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Häufigkeitsnachbarn des Verwechslers „qui“

Peers mit ähnlichem Corpus-Gewicht, getrennt von den Verwechslungspaaren unten

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „qui“ gegen die nächsten gerankten deutschen Lemmata, kein Reprint der Verwechslungsdesk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

qui vs quo
67% similar
qui vs Quiz
50% similar
qui vs quick
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for qui
PropertyValue
Headwordqui
LanguageGerman
Part of speechPronoun
IPA[ki]
Letters3
Frequency rank#18,668
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs15
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „qui“

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).quiliegt auf dieser Marke:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „Puma“ (#18,667), „rationale“ (#18,669), „psychologisch“ (#18,666). Unter 216 „Q“-Lemmata liegt „qui“ bei #18,668. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for qui is neighbouring look-alikes ("quo", "Quiz", …), not just typos; it is apronoun pronounced [ki]. Frequency #18,668 among 216 “Q” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for qui, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It also participates in 15 confusable-pair relationships, "quo", "Quiz", "quick", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is qui, spelled Q-U-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    der, die, das; wer, was
  2. 2
    dessen/dem/den, deren/der/die, dessen/dem/das; wessen, wem, wen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how qui appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Le monsieur qui a sonné nous livrait un paquet.
  2. Qui veut, peut.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "qui"?
"qui" is spelled Q-U-I. The IPA pronunciation is [ki].
What does "qui" mean?
As a pronoun, "qui" means: der, die, das; wer, was
What words are commonly confused with "qui"?
"qui" is commonly confused with "quo", "Quiz", "quick". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "qui"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "qui" is [ki]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "qui" come from?
"qui" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "qui", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

raw#18,670Ruh#18,679MHz#18,630sta#18,707

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list