queue
/kjuː/
"queue" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“queue” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #9,946 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #9,946
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 14
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A line of people, vehicles or other objects, usually one to be dealt with in sequence (i.e., the one at the front end is dealt with first, the one behind is dealt with next, and so on), and which n...
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | queue |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kjuː/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #9,946 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 14 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “queue” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for queue is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kjuː/. Corpus data places it at rank #9,946 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for queue, with forms such as "qeuue", "qqueue", and "queeu". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 14 confusable-pair relationships, "quite", "quote", "queues", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English queue, quew, qwew, couwe, from Anglo-Norman queue, keu and Old French cöe, cue, coe (“tail”), from Vulgar Latin cōda, from Latin cauda. See also Middle French queu, cueue. Doublet of coda and cola. The correct English form is queue, spelled Q-U-E-U-E.
Definition
- 1A line of people, vehicles or other objects, usually one to be dealt with in sequence (i.e., the one at the front end is dealt with first, the one behind is dealt with next, and so on), and which newcomers join at the opposite end (the back).
- 2A waiting list or other means of organizing people or objects into a first-come-first-served order.
- 3A data structure in which objects are added to one end, called the tail, and removed from the other, called the head (in the case of a FIFO queue). The term can also refer to a LIFO queue or stack where these ends coincide.
- 4An animal's tail.
- 5A men's hairstyle with a braid or ponytail at the back of the head, such as that worn by men in Imperial China.
Etymology
From Middle English queue, quew, qwew, couwe, from Anglo-Norman queue, keu and Old French cöe, cue, coe (“tail”), from Vulgar Latin cōda, from Latin cauda. See also Middle French queu, cueue. Doublet of coda and cola.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: qeuue,qqueue,queeu,quuee,uqeue
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of queue - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “queue”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is Q-U-E-U-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kjuː/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “quite” - see the side-by-side comparison. queue vs quite
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.