English homophones
cue/q/que/queue
"cue" is a noun; "q" is a character - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #5 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Grammar picks the spelling
Same sound, different grammar: "cue" arrives as a noun, while "q" is a character. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- No shared spelling stem: "cue" is 3 letters, "q" is 1; only the sound ties them.
- No shared spelling stem: "cue" is 3 letters, "que" is 3; only the sound ties them.
- No shared spelling stem: "cue" is 3 letters, "queue" is 5; only the sound ties them.
- No shared spelling stem: "q" is 1 letters, "que" is 3; only the sound ties them.
- No shared spelling stem: "q" is 1 letters, "queue" is 5; only the sound ties them.
- Shared stem "que" then splits - "que" (3 letters) vs "queue" (5).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across cue, q, que, queue: none. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
cue
3 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVV
Inventory ceu · private ceu
q
1 letters · 0 vowels · shape C
Inventory q · private q
que
3 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVV
Inventory equ · private equ
queue
5 letters · 4 vowels · shape CVVVV
Inventory equ · private equ
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "cue" when you mean: The name of the Latin script letter Q/q.
- Write "q" when you mean: The seventeenth letter of the English alphabet, called cue and written in the Latin script.
- Write "que" when you mean: The name of the Latin script letter Q/q. Alternative form of cue.
- Write "queue" when you mean: A line of people, vehicles or other objects, usually one to be dealt with in sequence (i.e., the one at the front end is dealt with first…
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
- queue ← qeuue · qqueue · queeu · quuee · uqeue
Each spelling
character · /kjuː/ · #2,698 frequency
The seventeenth letter of the English alphabet, called cue and written in the Latin script.
noun · /ˈkjuː/ · #9,084 frequency
The name of the Latin script letter Q/q. Alternative form of cue.
noun · /kjuː/ · #9,946 frequency
A line of people, vehicles or other objects, usually one to be dealt with in sequence (i.e., the one at the front end is dealt with first, the one behind is dealt with next, and so on), and which newcomers join at the opposite end (the back).
Nearby English homophone groups
- right · write · wright · rite4-spelling cluster
- rains · reigns · reins · Raines4-spelling cluster
- row · roe · Rowe · rho4-spelling cluster
- we · wee · Wii · oui4-spelling cluster
- sigh · sai · Sy · sie4-spelling cluster
- Lynn · lin · lyn · linn4-spelling cluster
- lay · lei · ley · Leh4-spelling cluster
- lee · li · leigh · lea4-spelling cluster
What to do next
You've reviewed the 4-spelling cluster (cue, q, que, queue). Here's where to go from here.
- "q" is the most frequent headword in this 4-spelling cluster (rank #2,698 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 4 spellings ranks #5 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 4-spelling cluster: right · write · wright · rite. Nearby cluster
- Grammar often disambiguates this cluster, match the meaning to the part of speech before picking a spelling. Pick by meaning
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.