quvsquitWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: qu is a noun, quit is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“qu” is a noun and “quit” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,195
“qu” frequency rank
#2,805
“quit” frequency rank
23000
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature qu quit
Definition An administrative subdivision of China roughly equivalent to districts, distinguished from the more rural "counties" (xian). Released from obligation, penalty, etc; free, clear, or rid.

Letter map: qu vs quit

Shared letters muted; letters that set qu and quit apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

2 ch
qu
4 ch
quit

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: qu is anoun and quitanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “qu” sits inside “quit”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23000, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

qu is recorded at frequency rank #20,195, classified as anoun. quit is at rank #2,805, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kwɪt/.

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 23000, this pair ranks #412,458 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of qu vs quit

Shared letters: qu. Private to "qu": -. Private to "quit": it.

"qu" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "quit" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • quitqiut · qquit · quitt · quti · uqit

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "qu" and "quit" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "qu" is a noun and "quit" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "qu" or "quit"?
"quit" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,805 in our English list, against #20,195 for "qu". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list