quelquevsquoiqueWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: quelque is a adjective, quoique is a conjunction, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“quelque” is an adjective and “quoique” is a conjunction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#230
“quelque” frequency rank
#5,283
“quoique” frequency rank
5513
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature quelque quoique
Definition Un parmi d’autres. Encore que ; bien que.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set quelque and quoique apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
quelque
7 ch
quoique

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: quelque is \kɛlk\ while quoique is \kwa.kə\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs conjunction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5513, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

quelque is recorded at frequency rank #230, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɛlk\. quoique is at rank #5,283, tagged as aconj, pronounced \kwa.kə\.

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 5513, this pair ranks #428,813 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of quelque vs quoique

Shared letters: equ. Private to "quelque": l. Private to "quoique": io.

"quelque" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVV  ·  "quoique" · 7 letters · shape CVVVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • quelqueqeulque · qquelque · quellque · quelqeu · quelqque · queluqe · queqlue · quleque
  • quoiqueqouique · qquoique · quioque · quoiqeu · quoiqque · quoiuqe · quoqiue · uqoique

Frequency comparison

quelque#230
quoique#5,283

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "quelque" and "quoique" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "quelque" is an adjective and "quoique" a conjunction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "quelque" or "quoique"?
"quelque" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #230 in our French list, against #5,283 for "quoique". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering quelque vs quoique

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “quelque”; for a conjunction, it's “quoique”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “quelque” 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