qua vs quo, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“qua” is a preposition and “quo” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,473
“qua” frequency rank: #9,947
“quo” frequency rank: 45420
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	qua	quo
Definition	as; in the capacity of; acting as	quoth

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set qua and quo apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

qua

3 ch

quo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: qua is /kwɑː/ while quo is /kwəʊ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “qua” becomes o in “quo”, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45420, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

qua is recorded at frequency rank #35,473, classified as aprep, pronounced /kwɑː/. quo is at rank #9,947, tagged as averb, pronounced /kwəʊ/.

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 45420, this pair ranks #221,423 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of qua vs quo

Shared letters: qu. Private to "qua": a. Private to "quo": o.

"qua" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "quo" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequency comparison

qua#35,473

quo#9,947

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "qua" and "quo" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "qua" is a preposition and "quo" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "qua" or "quo"?

"quo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,947 in our English list, against #35,473 for "qua". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering qua vs quo

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a preposition, it's “qua”; for a verb, it's “quo”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “qua” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable