quai

\kɛ\

/\kɛ\/ noun

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

The verdict

“quai” sits in 17 confusable pairs (corpus #4,609) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#4,609
frequency rank, French
352
“Q” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
17
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Levée ordinairement revêtue de pierres de taille et faite le long d’une rivière ou d’un canal, pour rendre le chemin praticable et pour empêcher le débordement de l’eau.

Corpus desk

Index FR-quai · quai · French

quai · rank #4,609 · 4 variants · 17 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,609
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 17 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-MID 352
  • PHOTO-FINISH puissante

Nearest frequency peer: puissante (-1 rank slots)

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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “quai”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “quai” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

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).

quai vs que
50% similar
quai vs qui
75% similar
quai vs quoi
75% similar

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

Key facts for quai
PropertyValue
Headwordquai
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kɛ\
Letters4
Frequency rank#4,609
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs17
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Où “quai” se place dans la fréquence du français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).quaise place ici:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « puissante » (#4,608), « quotidienne » (#4,610), « préserver » (#4,607). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for quai is neighbouring look-alikes ("que", "qui", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced \kɛ\. Frequency #4,609 among 352 “Q” headwords. 3 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for quai, with forms such as "qaui", "qquai", and "quia". 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 17 confusable-pair relationships, "que", "qui", "quoi", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is quai, spelled Q-U-A-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    Levée ordinairement revêtue de pierres de taille et faite le long d’une rivière ou d’un canal, pour rendre le chemin praticable et pour empêcher le débordement de l’eau.
  2. 2
    Rivage d’un port de mer, qui sert pour le chargement et le déchargement des marchandises.
  3. 3
    Trottoir d’embarquement dans une gare de chemin de fer.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Un quai revêtu de pierres de taille.
  2. Les quais de Paris.

This word in other languages

riverwalk(English)muelle(Español)Ufer(Deutsch)cais(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • qaui
  • qquai
  • quia
  • uqai

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of quai - 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.

qaui2qquai1quia2uqai2
Edit distance from "quai"

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "quai"?
"quai" is spelled Q-U-A-I. The IPA pronunciation is \kɛ\.
What does "quai" mean?
As a noun, "quai" means: Levée ordinairement revêtue de pierres de taille et faite le long d’une rivière ou d’un canal, pour rendre le chemin praticable et pour empêcher le débordement de l’eau.
What words are commonly confused with "quai"?
"quai" is commonly confused with "que", "qui", "quoi". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "quai"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "quai" is \kɛ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "quai" come from?
"quai" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 French words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

tube#4,628volé#4,632boss#4,552Baby#4,548

What to do next

You've looked up "quai". Here's where to go from here.

  • "quai" maps to 17 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "que". View pair
  • 4 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #4,609 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more French words in the "Q" letter cohort. Q–Z browse

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list