cue
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
3 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
Wiktionary
open dictionary
Access
Free
no sign-up needed
Detailed reference entry for the English word "cue", 3-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "cue" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "cue" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
cue is aEnglishnoun. It means: The name of the Latin script letter Q/q. Pronounced /ˈkjuː/. Often confused with CV and CW.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cue |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkjuː/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #10,351 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for cue is 3 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkjuː/. Corpus data places it at rank #10,351 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for cue in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "CV", "CW", "CX", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English cu (used for half a farthing, from q as an abbreviation for Latin quadrāns (“quarter of an as”)), from Latin cū, kū. Compare French ku. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is cue, spelled C-U-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1The name of the Latin script letter Q/q.
- 2A small portion of bread or beer; the quantity bought with a farthing or half farthing and noted with a q (for Latin quadrāns (“farthing”)) in the buttery books.
Etymology
From Middle English cu (used for half a farthing, from q as an abbreviation for Latin quadrāns (“quarter of an as”)), from Latin cū, kū. Compare French ku.
This word in other languages
Frequency rank: #10,351 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "cue"?
What does "cue" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "cue"?
How do you pronounce "cue"?
What is the origin of the word "cue"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter C in our English index: