quadvsquartWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“quad” and “quart” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#11,274
“quad” frequency rank
#28,679
“quart” frequency rank
39953
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature quad quart
Definition Clipping of quadrat. A unit of liquid capacity equal to two pints; one-fourth (quarter) of a gallon. Equivalent to 1.136 liters in the UK and 0.946 liter (liquid quart) or 1.101 liters (dry quart) in the U.S.

Where the eye mixes quad and quart

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
quad
5 ch
quart

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. quad (/kwɑd/) and quart (/kwɔːt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39953, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

quad is recorded at frequency rank #11,274, classified as anoun, pronounced /kwɑd/. quart is at rank #28,679, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kwɔːt/.

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 39953, this pair ranks #272,020 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of quad vs quart

Shared letters: aqu. Private to "quad": d. Private to "quart": rt.

"quad" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "quart" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • quadqaud · qquad · quadd · quda · uqad
  • quartqaurt · qquart · quarrt · quartt · quatr · qurat · uqart

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "quad" and "quart" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kwɑd/ versus /kwɔːt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "quad" or "quart"?
"quad" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,274 in our English list, against #28,679 for "quart". 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