Which to use
“quarter” and “quitter” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,963
- “quarter” frequency rank
- #49,577
- “quitter” frequency rank
- 51540
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | quarter | quitter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A fourth part of something. | Matter flowing from a wound or sore; pus. |
Where the eye mixes quarter and quitter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. quarter and quitter follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses quarter with quitter
A purely visual mix-up. quarter (/ˈk(w)ɔː.tə/) and quitter (/ˈkwɪ.tə/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51540, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
quarter is recorded at frequency rank #1,963, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈk(w)ɔː.tə/. quitter is at rank #49,577, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkwɪ.tə/.
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 51540, this pair ranks #164,615 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of quarter vs quitter
Shared letters: eqrtu. Private to "quarter": a. Private to "quitter": i.
"quarter" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "quitter" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "quarter" and "quitter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "quarter" vs "quitter" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "quarter" and "quitter" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "quarter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "quitter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #164,615 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "quarter" and "quitter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quilted vs quitter". 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 #164,615 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.