Which to use
“qui” is a pronoun and “quick” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #22
- “qui” frequency rank
- #14,544
- “quick” frequency rank
- 14566
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | qui | quick |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Lequel, laquelle, lesquels, lesquelles. | Revêtement dur de certains courts de tennis. |
Where the eye mixes qui and quick
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses qui with quick
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: qui is \ki\ while quick is \kwik\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “qui” sits inside “quick”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14566, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
qui is recorded at frequency rank #22, classified as apron, pronounced \ki\. quick is at rank #14,544, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kwik\.
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 14566, this pair ranks #396,114 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of qui vs quick
Shared letters: iqu. Private to "qui": -. Private to "quick": ck.
"qui" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "quick" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- quick ← qiuck · qquick · qucik · quicck · quickk · quikc · uqick
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "qui" and "quick" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "qui" or "quick" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "qui" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "quick" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #396,114 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "qui" and "quick" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quick vs quite". 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 #396,114 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.