keepvsKegelWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#17,630
“keep” frequency rank
#18,597
“Kegel” frequency rank
36227
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature keep Kegel
Definition Wehrturm, Burgturm, Bergfried Körper mit Kreisscheibe als Basis, in einer Spitze auslaufend

Where the eye mixes keep and Kegel

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

4 ch
keep
5 ch
Kegel

Why the eye confuses keep with Kegel

A purely visual mix-up. keep ([kiːp]) and Kegel ([ˈkeːɡl̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36227, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

keep is recorded at frequency rank #17,630, classified as anoun, pronounced [kiːp]. Kegel is at rank #18,597, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkeːɡl̩].

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 36227, this pair ranks #1,620,909 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of keep vs Kegel

Shared letters: ek. Private to "keep": p. Private to "Kegel": gl.

"keep" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Kegel" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • keepekep · keepp · kep · kepe · kkeep
  • Kegelekgel · keegl · kegell · keggel · kegle · kgeel · kkegel

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "keep" for "Kegel" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kiːp] versus [ˈkeːɡl̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "keep" or "Kegel"?
"keep" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,630 in our German list, against #18,597 for "Kegel". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "keep" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kegel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,620,909 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "keep" and "Kegel" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kegel vs kegeln". 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 #1,620,909 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