Which to use
“quest” is a verb and “quête” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,534
- “quest” frequency rank
- #4,179
- “quête” frequency rank
- 21713
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | quest | quête |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’impératif présent de quesen. | Action par laquelle on cherche. |
Where the eye mixes quest and quête
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. quest (CVVCC) and quête (CVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: quest vs quête
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: quest is \kveːst\ while quête is \kɛt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21713, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
quest is recorded at frequency rank #17,534, classified as averb, pronounced \kveːst\. quête is at rank #4,179, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɛt\.
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 21713, this pair ranks #361,805 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of quest vs quête
Shared letters: eqtu. Private to "quest": s. Private to "quête": ê.
"quest" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "quête" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- quest ← qeust · qquest · quesst · questt · quets · quset · uqest
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "quest" and "quête" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "quest" or "quête"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "quest" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "quête" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #361,805 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "quest" and "quête" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quest vs quot". 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 #361,805 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.