English homophones

cues/queues

"cues" (#14,305 written frequency) beats "queues" (#22,190) in this 2-word /ˈkjuːz/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.

Data vintage

Frequency splits the cluster

These 2 spellings keep the same /ˈkjuːz/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "cues" leads at #14,305, with "queues" trailing at #22,190.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

  • No shared spelling stem: "cues" is 4 letters, "queues" is 6; only the sound ties them.

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across cues, queues: esu. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

  • cues

    4 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVVC

    Inventory cesu · private c

  • queues

    6 letters · 4 vowels · shape CVVVVC

    Inventory eqsu · private q

Pick the spelling from the meaning

  • Write "cues" when you mean: plural of cue
  • Write "queues" when you mean: plural of queue

Known mistypes of these spellings

Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.

  • cuesccues · ceus · cuess · cuse · uces
  • queuesqeuues · qqueues · queeus · queuess · queuse · quuees

Each spelling

cues

noun · /ˈkjuːz/ · #14,305 frequency

plural of cue

queues

noun · /kjuːz/ · #22,190 frequency

plural of queue

Nearby English homophone groups

What to do next

You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (cues, queues). Here's where to go from here.

  • "cues" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #14,305 in English). Full entry
  • Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
  • Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: canon · cannon. Nearby cluster
  • Each spelling in "cues, queues" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list