# quail vs quill

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### quail
*verb · IPA /kweɪl/ · frequency rank #24,560*
To waste away; to fade, to wither.

### quill
*noun · IPA /kwɪl/ · frequency rank #25,182*
The lower shaft of a feather, specifically the region lacking barbs.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quail-vs-quill