
Netflix also refers to playlists as your “Netflix queue.” It’s not often used in American English, but in Great Britain and other English-speaking European countries, “queue” describes a line of people waiting or a line of vehicles in traffic. “Queue” means to form a line or list of something. But you’ve almost certainly heard it used. Queue the Musicĭon’t feel bad if you’ve never seen the word “queue” spelled out before, particularly if you live in the US. “Cue the music!” is a command for the band to start playing their first song. You can also use it to tell a group of musicians to get started. If you’ve ever heard someone telling you to “ cue the music” or “ cue the song” at a party, they’re telling you to plug your cell phone or MP3 player in and put some music on their speakers. Nine times out of ten, “cue” is the correct word to use. When there’s no music playing, and you want to hear music, it’s time to cue the music. “Cue” means to signal to someone to begin playing music. You might be more familiar with the word “cue” from playing pool or billiards a pool cue is the big, long stick that you use to hit the pool balls. But what’s the meaning exactly? What Does It Mean? More often than not, this is what you mean when you say that you’re going to cue the music. Let’s explore the meaning of each of these phrases and when you should use them. The only way you’ll know that you’re using the correct one is to be very clear on both of their meanings. Spelling and grammar checks don’t always catch this mistake since both “cue” and “queue” are real words. Or your friends may mock you if you get it wrong in a group text message. If you ever plan on writing about music, you’ll want to learn the correct uses for “cue” and “queue.” Your editor will get frustrated if you can’t distinguish between them. These words may sound virtually the same, but their meaning and spelling are completely different. You may wonder: if these two words sound exactly the same, why do I need to know the difference? Well, you may someday want to write it down. Why Knowing the Difference Between the Two Words Matter We’ll look more closely at what a music queue is later on in this article. You may see the word “queue” on your app and think that this is the correct spelling. Even if you hear someone say both of these phrases in different situations, there’s a possibility you’ll never know the difference unless you see them written out.įurthermore, many apps offer a music “queue,” including Spotify.

People get “cue” and “queue” mixed up because they sound the same when said aloud, despite their different spelling. It all comes down to context and to what exactly you’re trying to say. However, depending on what you’re trying to say, they both can be incorrect as well.

Queue: Why Do People Get Them Mixed Up?Īs stated above, both of these phrases can be technically correct.
