Which to use
“keinen” is an unknown and “klingen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #235
- “keinen” frequency rank
- #4,715
- “klingen” frequency rank
- 4950
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | keinen | klingen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Akkusativ Singular Maskulinum des Indefinitpronomens keiner | einen glockenartigen Ton von sich geben |
Where the eye mixes keinen and klingen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: keinen vs klingen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: keinen is [ˈkaɪ̯nən] while klingen is [ˈklɪŋən]. 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 (unknown vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4950, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
keinen is recorded at frequency rank #235, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈkaɪ̯nən]. klingen is at rank #4,715, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈklɪŋən].
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 4950, this pair ranks #1,996,211 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of keinen vs klingen
Shared letters: eikn. Private to "keinen": -. Private to "klingen": gl.
"keinen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "klingen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "keinen" and "klingen" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "keinen" or "klingen" show up more?
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 "keinen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "klingen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,996,211 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "keinen" and "klingen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "keinen vs kneifen". 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 #1,996,211 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.