keckvsKeksWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: keck is a adjective, Keks is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“keck” is an adjective and “Keks” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,143
“keck” frequency rank
#13,408
“Keks” frequency rank
46551
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature keck Keks
Definition auf eine angenehme, ansprechende Art und Weise frech, respektlos oder vorlaut süße, kleine, flache (trockene) Backware

Where the eye mixes keck and Keks

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. keck and Keks follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
keck
4 ch
Keks

Visual trap between keck and Keks

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: keck is [kɛk] while Keks is [keːks]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46551, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

keck is recorded at frequency rank #33,143, classified as anadj, pronounced [kɛk]. Keks is at rank #13,408, tagged as anoun, pronounced [keːks].

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 46551, this pair ranks #1,315,181 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of keck vs Keks

Shared letters: ek. Private to "keck": c. Private to "Keks": s.

"keck" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Keks" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • keck ← ekck · kcek · kecck · keckk · kekc · kkeck
  • Keks ← ekks · kekks · kekss · kesk · kkeks · kkes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "keck" and "Keks" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "keck" is an adjective and "Keks" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "keck" or "Keks" show up more?
"Keks" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,408 in our German list, against #33,143 for "keck". 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 "keck" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Keks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,315,181 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "keck" and "Keks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "keck vs kickt". 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 #1,315,181 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