keinsvsKiesTell them apart

Quick tell: keins is a unknown, Kies is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“keins” is an unknown and “Kies” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,734
“keins” frequency rank
#18,946
“Kies” frequency rank
27680
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature keins Kies
Definition Nominativ Singular Neutrum nicht attributiv des Indefinitpronomens kein lose Gesteinsstücke in einer Korngröße von etwa 3 mm bis 30 mm

Where the eye mixes keins and Kies

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

5 ch
keins
4 ch
Kies

Visual trap between keins and Kies

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: keins is [kaɪ̯ns] while Kies is [kiːs]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27680, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

keins is recorded at frequency rank #8,734, classified as anunknown, pronounced [kaɪ̯ns]. Kies is at rank #18,946, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kiːs].

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 27680, this pair ranks #1,797,719 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of keins vs Kies

Shared letters: eiks. Private to "keins": n. Private to "Kies": -.

"keins" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "Kies" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • keinsekins · keinns · keinss · keisn · kenis · kiens · kkeins
  • Kiesikes · keis · kiess · kise · kkies

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "keins" and "Kies" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "keins" is an unknown and "Kies" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "keins" or "Kies" show up more?
"keins" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,734 in our German list, against #18,946 for "Kies". 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 "keins" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,797,719 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "keins" and "Kies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kies 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 #1,797,719 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