kein vs key, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“kein” is a pronoun and “key” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#119
“kein” frequency rank: #8,577
“key” frequency rank: 8696
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	kein	key
Definition	null, nichts, Null	Schlüssel

Where the eye mixes kein and key

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

4 ch

kein

3 ch

key

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kein is [kaɪ̯n] while key is [kiː]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8696, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kein is recorded at frequency rank #119, classified as apron, pronounced [kaɪ̯n]. key is at rank #8,577, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kiː].

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 8696, this pair ranks #1,983,238 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kein vs key

Shared letters: ek. Private to "kein": in. Private to "key": y.

"kein" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "key" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

kein ← ekin · keinn · keni · kien · kkein

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kein" and "key" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kein" is a pronoun and "key" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "kein" or "key"?

"kein" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #119 in our German list, against #8,577 for "key". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "kein" and "key". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "kein" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "key" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #1,983,238 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"kein" and "key" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "key vs Koi". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.