Which to use
“quais” and “quarts” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,217
- “quais” frequency rank
- #5,599
- “quarts” frequency rank
- 15816
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | quais | quarts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de quai. | Pluriel de quart. |
Where the eye mixes quais and quarts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. quais runs 5 letters (CVVVC) against quarts's 6 (CVVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses quais with quarts
A purely visual mix-up. quais (\ke\) and quarts (\kaʁ\) 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 15816, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
quais is recorded at frequency rank #10,217, classified as anoun, pronounced \ke\. quarts is at rank #5,599, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kaʁ\.
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 15816, this pair ranks #390,727 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of quais vs quarts
Shared letters: aqsu. Private to "quais": i. Private to "quarts": rt.
"quais" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC · "quarts" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "quais" for "quarts" ever safe?
Which is more common, "quais" or "quarts"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "quais" and "quarts" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "quais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "quarts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #390,727 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "quais" and "quarts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quais 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 #390,727 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.