Which to use
“que” is a conjunction and “quote” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13
- “que” frequency rank
- #20,831
- “quote” frequency rank
- 20844
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | que | quote |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Complémenteur pour introduire une proposition subordonnée complétive. | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de quoter. |
Where the eye mixes que and quote
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses que with quote
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: que is \kə\ while quote is \kwot\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (conjunction vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20844, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
que is recorded at frequency rank #13, classified as aconj, pronounced \kə\. quote is at rank #20,831, tagged as averb, pronounced \kwot\.
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 20844, this pair ranks #366,197 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of que vs quote
Shared letters: equ. Private to "que": -. Private to "quote": ot.
"que" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "quote" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- quote ← qoute · qquote · quoet · quotte · qutoe · uqote
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "que" for "quote" ever safe?
Frequency check: "que" vs "quote" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "que" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "quote" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #366,197 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "que" and "quote" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quite vs quote". 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 #366,197 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.