Which to use
“quai” and “quasi” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,609
- “quai” frequency rank
- #2,332
- “quasi” frequency rank
- 6941
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | quai | quasi |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Morceau de la cuisse d’un bœuf ou d’un veau, placé sous le gîte à la noix. |
Where the eye mixes quai and quasi
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. quai runs 4 letters (CVVV) against quasi's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: quai vs quasi
A purely visual mix-up. quai (\kɛ\) and quasi (\ka.zi\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6941, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
quai is recorded at frequency rank #4,609, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɛ\. quasi is at rank #2,332, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ka.zi\.
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 6941, this pair ranks #424,733 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of quai vs quasi
Shared letters: aiqu. Private to "quai": -. Private to "quasi": s.
"quai" · 4 letters · shape CVVV · "quasi" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "quai" for "quasi" ever safe?
Frequency check: "quai" vs "quasi" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "quai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "quasi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #424,733 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "quai" and "quasi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quai vs qualif". 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 #424,733 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.