keckvskickConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#33,143
“keck” frequency rank
#11,681
“kick” frequency rank
44824
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature keck kick
Definition auf eine angenehme, ansprechende Art und Weise frech, respektlos oder vorlaut 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kicken

Where the eye mixes keck and kick

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
keck
4 ch
kick

Visual trap between keck and kick

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: keck is [kɛk] while kick is [kɪk]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “keck” becomes i in “kick”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44824, 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]. kick is at rank #11,681, tagged as averb, pronounced [kɪk].

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 44824, this pair ranks #1,373,559 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of keck vs kick

Shared letters: ck. Private to "keck": e. Private to "kick": i.

"keck" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "kick" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • keckekck · kcek · kecck · keckk · kekc · kkeck
  • kickikck · kcik · kicck · kickk · kikc · kkick

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "keck" for "kick" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "keck" is an adjective and "kick" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "keck" vs "kick" - which ranks higher?
"kick" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,681 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.

After this comparison

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 "kick" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,373,559 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "keck" and "kick" 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 #1,373,559 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