Which to use
“q” is a character and “qu” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,698
- “q” frequency rank
- #20,195
- “qu” frequency rank
- 22893
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | q | qu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The seventeenth letter of the English alphabet, called cue and written in the Latin script. | An administrative subdivision of China roughly equivalent to districts, distinguished from the more rural "counties" (xian). |
Letter map: q vs qu
Shared letters muted; letters that set q and qu apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: q is acharacter and quanoun. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “q” sits inside “qu”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22893, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
q is recorded at frequency rank #2,698, classified as acharacter, pronounced /kjuː/. qu is at rank #20,195, tagged as anoun.
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 22893, this pair ranks #413,271 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of q vs qu
Shared letters: q. Private to "q": -. Private to "qu": u.
"q" · 1 letters · shape C · "qu" · 2 letters · shape CV