Which to use
“keiner” is a pronoun and “keines” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #547
- “keiner” frequency rank
- #7,199
- “keines” frequency rank
- 7746
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | keiner | keines |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | nicht einer; nicht ein einziger | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum nicht attributiv des Indefinitpronomens kein |
Where the eye mixes keiner and keines
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. keiner and keines follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between keiner and keines
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: keiner is [ˈkaɪ̯nɐ] while keines is [ˈkaɪ̯nəs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “keiner” becomes s in “keines”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7746, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
keiner is recorded at frequency rank #547, classified as apron, pronounced [ˈkaɪ̯nɐ]. keines is at rank #7,199, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈkaɪ̯nəs].
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 7746, this pair ranks #1,987,045 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of keiner vs keines
Shared letters: eikn. Private to "keiner": r. Private to "keines": s.
"keiner" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "keines" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "keiner" and "keines" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "keiner" or "keines"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "keiner" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "keines" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,987,045 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "keiner" and "keines" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "keines vs Knies". 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 #1,987,045 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.