quote

/kwəʊt/

//kwəʊt// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"quote" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“quote” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #2,963. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#2,963
frequency rank, English
288
“Q” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
12
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A statement attributed to a person; a quotation.

Corpus desk

Index EN-quote · quote · English

quote · rank #2,963 · 6 variants · 12 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #2,963
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 12 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-MID 288
  • PHOTO-FINISH purposes

Nearest frequency peer: purposes (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “quote”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “quote” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

quote vs quotes
83% similar
quote vs quoted
83% similar
quote vs que
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for quote
PropertyValue
Headwordquote
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/kwəʊt/
Letters5
Frequency rank#2,963
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs12
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “quote”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).quotelands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “purposes” (#2,962), “recording” (#2,964), “protected” (#2,961). Among 288 “Q” headwords, “quote” is #2,963. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around quote (IPA /kwəʊt/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #2,963 among 288 “Q” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for quote, with forms such as "qoute", "qquote", and "quoet". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 12 confusable-pair relationships, "quotes", "quoted", "que", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English quoten, coten (“to mark (a book) with chapter numbers or marginal references”), from Old French coter, from Medieval Latin quotāre (“to distinguish by numbers, number chapters”), itself from Latin quotus (“which, what number (in sequence… The correct English form is quote, spelled Q-U-O-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A statement attributed to a person; a quotation.
  2. 2
    A quotation mark.
  3. 3
    A summary of work to be done with a set price; a quotation.
  4. 4
    A price set and offered (by the potential seller) for a financial security or commodity; a quotation.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how quote appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. She loved reading quotes of famous people.
  2. After going over the hefty quotes, the board decided it was cheaper to have the project executed by its own staff.

Etymology

From Middle English quoten, coten (“to mark (a book) with chapter numbers or marginal references”), from Old French coter, from Medieval Latin quotāre (“to distinguish by numbers, number chapters”), itself from Latin quotus (“which, what number (in sequence)”), from quot (“how many”) and related to quis (“who”). The sense developed via “to give as a reference, to cite as an authority” to “to copy out exact words” (since 1680); the business sense “to state the price of a commodity” (1866) revives the etymological meaning. The noun, in the sense of “quotation,” is attested from 1885; see also usage note, below.

This word in other languages

cita(Español)citation(Français)Zitat(Deutsch)citação(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • qoute
  • qquote
  • quoet
  • quotte
  • qutoe
  • uqote

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of quote - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

qoute2qquote1quoet2quotte1qutoe2uqote2
Edit distance from "quote"

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

How do you spell "quote"?
"quote" is spelled Q-U-O-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is /kwəʊt/.
What does "quote" mean?
As a noun, "quote" means: A statement attributed to a person; a quotation.
What words are commonly confused with "quote"?
"quote" is commonly confused with "quotes", "quoted", "que". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "quote"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "quote" is /kwəʊt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "quote"?
From Middle English quoten, coten (“to mark (a book) with chapter numbers or marginal references”), from Old French coter, from Medieval Latin quotāre (“to distinguish by numbers, number chapters”), itself from Latin quotus (“which, what number (i... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "quote", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

swear#2,968trend#2,972loans#2,953kinds#2,951

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

lock6 variantsford6 variantsgang6 variantslift6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list