Which to use
“quelques” is an adjective and “queues” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #142
- “quelques” frequency rank
- #18,573
- “queues” frequency rank
- 18715
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | quelques | queues |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de l’adjectif indéfini quelque. Un petit nombre de. — Note d’usage : Ce mot peut s’utiliser comme un numéral après un cardinal et et. | Pluriel de queue. |
Where the eye mixes quelques and queues
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses quelques with queues
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: quelques is \kɛlk\ while queues is \kø\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18715, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
quelques is recorded at frequency rank #142, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɛlk\. queues is at rank #18,573, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kø\.
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 18715, this pair ranks #376,922 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of quelques vs queues
Shared letters: eqsu. Private to "quelques": l. Private to "queues": -.
"quelques" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC · "queues" · 6 letters · shape CVVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "quelques" and "queues" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "quelques" vs "queues" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "quelques" and "queues" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "quelques" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "queues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #376,922 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "quelques" and "queues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ques vs queues". 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 #376,922 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.