How do I type the backtick on a standard US QWERTY keyboard?

Question

I seem to be unable to type the backtick without using an alt code. However, the ~ works fine, and the key can be used as a hotkey in games/programs, just cannot be typed. How would I fix this?

Answer 1

You seem to be using the US-International layout which has AltGr and several dead keys to type accented characters. It isn't the default keyboard layout for the US

The simplest solution is to change to the US layout which is the default for the USA, and then you can type ` as normal. Just open start menu, type Language to open language settings and remove the US-International layout and select the plain US layout

The US QWERTY layout below the International is the desired one

For more information see

• How to remove unneeded ENG International keyboard layout from Windows 10 permanently?
• How to delete a keyboard layout in Windows 10
• How to Add or Remove Keyboard Layouts in Windows 10

Answer 2

I'm not certain exactly which Keyboard/Language input types this applies to, however, for some of the International layouts, backtick [& also single quote] get special treatment.

Because they can also be used as combining characters, if you type one, then follow it with a vowel, it will combine, so ' then e gives you é, ` then a gives you à etc.
If you don't follow it with anything that can take the accent, it will then generate the character followed by your non-accented letter, which is fine some of the time, but not always what you need.
So...

To get them to print on their own, tap the space bar.

Pic from Win 7 - The US international displays this behaviour, the UK doesn't.