You're at a dinner party. The host starts stacking plates and yawning, and within five minutes everyone is hunting for their coats. Nobody said 'please go home.' The plates did the talking, and everybody heard them.
This article answers what are cues, and shows how the word behaves in theatre, psychology, everyday conversation and pool halls. You'll also see how to avoid the classic cue/queue mix-up, with real examples you can borrow.
What are cues? The short answer
A cue is a signal that tells someone it's time to do something. Every other meaning of the word grows out of that idea. The Britannica Dictionary entry for "cue" describes it as a signal, such as a line, action or technical trigger, that tells a performer when to speak or act, and it extends the sense to any signal for someone to do something. A cue can be spoken or silent, and it can come from the environment or from inside you.
"Cues" is simply the plural. So when someone asks what are cues, they usually mean one of three things: the general idea of signals that trigger behaviour, the theatre sense (a trigger for an actor), or the pool-stick sense. Context nearly always tells you which one.
The main meanings of cue
The word has a handful of distinct senses. Here's the quick map before we get into each one.
| Sense | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Signal (general) | A hint or prompt to act | The silence was his cue to speak. |
| Performance | A line or action that triggers an entrance, line or effect | She waited for her cue from the lighting change. |
| Psychology | A stimulus linked to a response | A yellow light cues you to slow down. |
| Pool and snooker | The tapered stick used to hit the ball | He chalked his cue. |
| Verb | To give a signal to start | Cue the music! |
Cue as a signal in everyday life
This is the sense you'll use most. A cue is anything that tells you what to do next without anyone spelling it out. Your boss glancing at the clock. A friend picking up their bag. A kid going quiet right before a meltdown.
The everyday use is the stage use borrowed for real life. Dictionaries list the performance meaning first because it's the older, more literal one, and the rest of us took it for ordinary situations.
Cue in theatre, film and TV
Ask a stage manager what are cues and you'll get a very practical answer: a cue is the exact moment something has to happen. An actor's cue might be the last words of another actor's line. A lighting cue is the instant the stage goes dark. A sound cue is the doorbell that rings on page 42.
Stage managers live by cue sheets. They call things like "Lights 14, go," and a dozen people respond at once. Get a cue wrong by two seconds and the audience feels it, even if they couldn't tell you why.
Film works the same way. A director says "Cue the rain," and the rain machines start. The verb comes straight from this: to cue something is to trigger it.
Cue in psychology and learning
Psychologists use the word more precisely: a cue is a stimulus tied to a response. The textbook case is Pavlov's bell. His dogs learned that the sound meant food, and the bell alone was enough to make them salivate. A yellow traffic light does the same job for drivers, cueing them to slow down before the red.
Here's the interesting bit. Cues work whether you notice them or not. The smell of coffee cues you to feel awake. Seeing your phone on the desk cues you to pick it up.
Habit research puts a number on it. In a well-known 2002 diary study, Wendy Wood and colleagues found that roughly 43% of the everyday behaviours people logged were repeated almost daily, usually in the same place, which is exactly what you'd expect if location and context act as cues. Honestly, this is the most useful version of the idea if you want to change your own behaviour. Want to exercise more? Put your trainers by the door. You've just designed a cue.
If you want a habit to happen, don't rely on willpower. Build a cue you can't miss.
Cues in communication
In face-to-face talk, cues are everything that isn't the words: facial expressions, eye contact, tone of voice, touch and physical distance. Researchers usually sort these into verbal and nonverbal cues. You may have seen the old claim that 93% of communication is nonverbal. It comes from Albert Mehrabian's 1960s experiments, which only looked at how people judge feelings in ambiguous, single-word messages, so don't repeat it as a general rule.
Digital media has its own versions. Think of the three dots in a chat bubble, a read receipt, or an emoji. They stand in for a raised eyebrow.
This is also why text messages go wrong so often. Strip out tone and posture and the reader fills the gap with their worst guess. If a message ever left you uneasy, check what cues were missing before you assume the worst.
What are cues in a pool hall?
A cue is also the long tapered stick you use to strike the cue ball in pool, billiards and snooker. Same spelling, same pronunciation, but it's a separate sense of the word with its own history. The ball it hits is the "cue ball," and you chalk the tip so it grips.
There's no link to signals here, so don't hunt for one. English just reuses words.
Common expressions with cue
A few idioms account for most of the real-world use, and learners tend to trip over them.
- On cue: at exactly the expected moment. I mentioned Mark and, right on cue, he walked in.
- Take your cue from: use someone or something as your guide. Watch the senior designer and take your cue from her.
- Cue someone in: bring them up to date. Can you cue me in on what I missed?
- Cue the...: a jokey way to say something predictable is about to happen. Cue the awkward silence.
- Missed cue: failing to notice or act on a signal, on stage or off.
"On cue" doesn't mean "when asked." It means the timing was almost suspiciously perfect.
Cue vs queue: which is correct?
They sound identical but mean different things. "Cue" is a signal (or a pool stick). "Queue" is a line of people or tasks waiting their turn, mostly British English for what Americans call a line.
Try this test. If people are standing in a row, it's queue. If something is prompting an action, it's cue. "Wait for your cue" and "wait in the queue" are both perfectly good sentences, and swapping them gives you nonsense.
Don't confuse either with "Q," the letter, which also sounds the same. Three words, one sound. English at its finest.
How to pronounce cue
Say it like the letter Q: /kjuː/. One syllable, starting with a hard K and sliding into "yoo." British and American speakers say it the same way, so accent won't trip you up. The plural, cues, adds a Z sound: /kjuːz/.
What is the plural of cue?
The plural is cues. Regular, no surprises: visual cues, social cues, missed cues. The verb forms are just as simple: cue, cues, cued, cuing (or cueing, both appear).
What does cue mean in a text?
In texting and online chat, "cue" usually works as a jokey verb. Someone writes "Cue the drama" or "And cue the rain," meaning "here comes the predictable thing." It's borrowed straight from scripts and stage directions.
You'll also see "that's my cue" used to announce you're leaving a chat. It's light, a bit theatrical, and a polite way to bow out.
What is "my cue"?
"My cue" means the signal that tells me to act. In a play, it's the line right before yours. In life, it's whatever tells you it's time to speak, leave or step in. When someone says "that's my cue," they've spotted the signal and they're about to move.
What are cues in practice? Five types to know
It helps to sort cues by where they come from.
- Verbal cues: words, phrases or tone that prompt a response, like "Okay, over to you."
- Nonverbal cues: gestures, posture, eye contact and distance.
- Environmental cues: things around you that trigger behaviour, such as a ringing alarm or a full inbox.
- Internal cues: hunger, fatigue or a sudden thought that prompts you from the inside.
- Technical cues: lighting, sound or video triggers in a production.
The same situation can carry all five at once. At a conference talk you get your slide change (technical), the moderator's nod (nonverbal), the clock (environmental), the host's "over to you" (verbal) and your own dry mouth (internal). Most people only consciously register one or two of them, which is why speakers sometimes overrun or stall.
Using cues when you write and speak
If you write dialogue or scripts, cues are your friend. A line that ends on a question is a natural cue for the next speaker. Stage directions like "(pause)" or "(door slams)" work as cues for action. Be specific: "after Maya says 'fine'" is a much better cue than "after a bit."
Dictating a script or notes out loud gets awkward quickly, because you want the cues, line breaks and punctuation to land properly. That's where a tool like GhostWriter comes in handy on a Mac: you speak, and it turns what you said into clean text with punctuation and formatting handled, in whatever app you're using. It won't invent your cues for you, but it does stop you losing the moment to typing. If you just want a rough capture of spoken notes first, our guide to free audio transcription covers what works without paying.
A good cue is obvious to the person who needs it and invisible to everyone else.
Try this next
Think of a cue as a nudge with a deadline: something happens and you know it's your turn. The next time you catch yourself saying "that was my cue," write down what the actual signal was. Do it for a week and you'll find the same few triggers, a clock, a notification, a colleague's sigh, running most of your day. Then pick one and change it on purpose.
GhostWriter is a macOS app for people who would rather talk than type. Speak your email, script or note and get clean, ready-to-paste text in any app, with punctuation and tone sorted out for you.