Which to use
“ke” is a verb and “quais” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,717
- “ke” frequency rank
- #10,217
- “quais” frequency rank
- 24934
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ke | quais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe kam. | Pluriel de quai. |
Same sound, different letters: ke vs quais
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. No shared letter run - the mix-up is pure homophony. ke runs 2 letters (CV) against quais's 5 (CVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: ke vs quais
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: ke and quais carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ˈke\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 3 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24934, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ke is recorded at frequency rank #14,717, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈke\. quais is at rank #10,217, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ke\.
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 24934, this pair ranks #343,728 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ke vs quais
Shared letters: none. Private to "ke": ek. Private to "quais": aiqsu.
"ke" · 2 letters · shape CV · "quais" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- quais ← qauis · qquais · quaiss · quias · uqais
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ke" and "quais" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "ke" or "quais"?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "ke" / "quais". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "ke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "quais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #343,728 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ke" and "quais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ke vs ky". 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 #343,728 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.