Cursive Q

Cursive q is the letter a with a tail: a closed oval, then a stem straight down past the baseline into a narrow loop that comes back up to the line.

Cursive capital Q and lowercase q written on a four-line school ruling

Written in the traditional US school model — the looped, joined cursive of the Zaner-Bloser and D'Nealian copybooks, which is the model every sheet on this site is set in.

How to write cursive q

  1. Start just below the midline and travel counter-clockwise into a closed oval.
  2. Close the oval exactly where you started it.
  3. Pull straight down from the right of the oval, through the baseline, to the bottom line.
  4. Loop back up close under your own stem, keeping the loop narrow, and exit to the right at the baseline.

The capital Q

Capital Q is a full-height oval finished with a tail that crosses underneath it. The tail dips below the baseline, but nothing like the full loops of J, Y and Z.

Where it goes wrong

The width of the loop is the whole difference between q and g. Swing it out to the left, the way g's descender goes, and the two letters are the same — above the baseline they already are.

Print the q practice sheet

Printable cursive q practice sheet — first page
Printable q worksheet, US Letter Printable q worksheet, A4

What is on the sheet

  1. Lowercase q
    qqq
    Write three letters q, exactly as in the model. Trace the pale row first, then write the empty rows on your own.
  2. Capital Q
    Q Q Q
    Write the capital Q three times, with a space between them. Capitals fill the full height from the baseline to the top line.
  3. Words: quiet and queen
    quiet queen
    Write both words as in the model, with a clear space between them. Keep every q the same size and the same slant.
  4. Word: quick
    quick
    Write the word in one movement where you can, then go back for any dots and crossbars.

Print at 100% on US Letter — not “fit to page”. The ruling is classroom size, and scaling the page down makes every letter the wrong size; the 10 cm scale at the foot of the sheet is there to check against. Every block gives you a model row in full ink, a pale row to trace over and empty ruled rows of your own.

All twenty-six on one page: the cursive alphabet chart.

The other letters

Cursive F Cursive S Cursive G Cursive J Cursive Z Cursive T Cursive B Cursive R Cursive K Cursive I Cursive L Cursive D Cursive A Cursive H Cursive E Cursive N Cursive M Cursive P Cursive V Cursive C Cursive X Cursive W Cursive Y Cursive O Cursive U

Check your q against the model

Write the sheet by hand, photograph it, and our AI scores letter formation, spacing and slant against the same model you traced.

Check your handwriting free

Oval Family: g, o and q

In the course, q is taught with the letters that share its movement — that is where to go once the shape itself is no longer the problem.

Sentences and Pangrams The full cursive course