quartervsquartetWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“quarter” and “quartet” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#48,131
“quarter” frequency rank
#41,480
“quartet” frequency rank
89611
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature quarter quartet
Definition Pièce d'un quart de dollar américain, soit 25 cents. Groupe de deux neutrons et deux protons, dans un noyau.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set quarter and quartet apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
quarter
7 ch
quartet

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. quarter (\kwaʁ.tɛʁ\) and quartet (\kwaʁ.tɛ\) 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 a single letter - r in “quarter” becomes t in “quartet”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 89611, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

quarter is recorded at frequency rank #48,131, classified as anoun, pronounced \kwaʁ.tɛʁ\. quartet is at rank #41,480, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kwaʁ.tɛ\.

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 89611, this pair ranks #5,596 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of quarter vs quartet

Shared letters: aeqrtu. Private to "quarter": -. Private to "quartet": -.

"quarter" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "quartet" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • quarterqaurter · qquarter · quaretr · quarrter · quarterr · quartre · quartter · quatrer
  • quartetqaurtet · qquartet · quarett · quarrtet · quartett · quartte · quarttet · quatret

Frequency comparison

quarter#48,131
quartet#41,480

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "quarter" and "quartet" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kwaʁ.tɛʁ\ versus \kwaʁ.tɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "quarter" or "quartet"?
"quartet" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,480 in our French list, against #48,131 for "quarter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering quarter vs quartet

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “quarter” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list