quittevsquoteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: quitte is a adjective, quote is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#1,752
“quitte” frequency rank
#20,831
“quote” frequency rank
22583
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature quitte quote
Definition Libéré d’une dette, d’une obligation, d’un devoir moral. Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de quoter.

Where the eye mixes quitte and quote

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
quitte
5 ch
quote

Why the eye confuses quitte with quote

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: quitte is \kit\ while quote is \kwot\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22583, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

quitte is recorded at frequency rank #1,752, classified as anadj, pronounced \kit\. quote is at rank #20,831, tagged as averb, pronounced \kwot\.

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 22583, this pair ranks #357,194 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of quitte vs quote

Shared letters: eqtu. Private to "quitte": i. Private to "quote": o.

"quitte" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "quote" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • quitteqiutte · qquitte · quitet · qutite · uqitte
  • quoteqoute · qquote · quoet · quotte · qutoe · uqote

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "quitte" for "quote" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "quitte" is an adjective and "quote" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "quitte" vs "quote" - which ranks higher?
"quitte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,752 in our French list, against #20,831 for "quote". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "quitte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "quote" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #357,194 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "quitte" and "quote" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quite vs quote". 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 #357,194 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list