quartvsquartetWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#28,679
“quart” frequency rank
#14,196
“quartet” frequency rank
42875
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature quart quartet
Definition 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. A group of four people or things, particularly

Where the eye mixes quart and quartet

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. quart runs 5 letters (CVVCC) against quartet's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
quart
7 ch
quartet

Look-alike desk: quart vs quartet

A purely visual mix-up. quart (/kwɔːt/) and quartet (/kwɔː(ɹ)ˈtɛt/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “quart” sits inside “quartet”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42875, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

quart is recorded at frequency rank #28,679, classified as anoun, pronounced /kwɔːt/. quartet is at rank #14,196, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kwɔː(ɹ)ˈtɛt/.

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 42875, this pair ranks #245,301 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of quart vs quartet

Shared letters: aqrtu. Private to "quart": -. Private to "quartet": e.

"quart" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "quartet" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • quart ← qaurt · qquart · quarrt · quartt · quatr · qurat · uqart
  • quartet ← qaurtet · qquartet · quarett · quarrtet · quartett · quartte · quarttet · quatret

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "quart" and "quartet" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kwɔːt/ versus /kwɔː(ɹ)ˈtɛt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "quart" or "quartet"?
"quartet" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,196 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.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "quart" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "quartet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #245,301 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "quart" and "quartet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quant vs quart". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #245,301 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list