quintevsquitteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: quinte is a noun, quitte is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“quinte” is a noun and “quitte” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,314
“quinte” frequency rank
#1,752
“quitte” frequency rank
30066
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature quinte quitte
Definition Intervalle de cinq notes consécutives, y compris les deux extrêmes. Libéré d’une dette, d’une obligation, d’un devoir moral.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
quinte
6 ch
quitte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: quinte is \kɛ̃t\ while quitte is \kit\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “quinte” becomes t in “quitte”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30066, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

quinte is recorded at frequency rank #28,314, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɛ̃t\. quitte is at rank #1,752, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kit\.

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 30066, this pair ranks #312,684 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of quinte vs quitte

Shared letters: eiqtu. Private to "quinte": n. Private to "quitte": -.

"quinte" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "quitte" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • quinteqiunte · qquinte · quinet · quinnte · quintte · quitne · qunite · uqinte
  • quitteqiutte · qquitte · quitet · qutite · uqitte

Frequency comparison

quinte#28,314
quitte#1,752

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "quinte" and "quitte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "quinte" is a noun and "quitte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "quinte" or "quitte"?
"quitte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,752 in our French list, against #28,314 for "quinte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering quinte vs quitte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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