KanuvskingWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Kanu” and “king” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#18,296
“Kanu” frequency rank
#3,384
“king” frequency rank
21680
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kanu king
Definition Sportboot, das mit Paddeln bewegt wird König

Where the eye mixes Kanu and king

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Kanu
4 ch
king

Look-alike desk: Kanu vs king

A purely visual mix-up. Kanu ([ˈkaːnu]) and king ([kɪŋ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21680, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kanu is recorded at frequency rank #18,296, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaːnu]. king is at rank #3,384, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kɪŋ].

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 21680, this pair ranks #1,883,406 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Kanu vs king

Shared letters: kn. Private to "Kanu": au. Private to "king": gi.

"Kanu" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "king" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kanuaknu · kannu · kaun · kkanu · knau
  • kingikng · kign · kingg · kinng · kking · knig

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Kanu" and "king" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkaːnu] versus [kɪŋ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Kanu" or "king"?
"king" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,384 in our German list, against #18,296 for "Kanu". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kanu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "king" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,883,406 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kanu" and "king" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kanu vs kaut". 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 #1,883,406 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list