kentvskinWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: kent is a verb, kin is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“kent” is a verb and “kin” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,409
“kent” frequency rank
#39,466
“kin” frequency rank
52875
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kent kin
Definition Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs ken fünf (5)

Letter map: kent vs kin

Shared letters muted; letters that set kent and kin apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
kent
3 ch
kin

Part-of-speech tell for kent / kin

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: kent is averb and kinanum. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52875, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kent is recorded at frequency rank #13,409, classified as averb, pronounced […]. kin is at rank #39,466, tagged as anum, pronounced [kin].

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 52875, this pair ranks #1,079,874 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kent vs kin

Shared letters: kn. Private to "kent": et. Private to "kin": i.

"kent" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "kin" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kenteknt · kentt · ketn · kkent · knet

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "kent" for "kin" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kent" is a verb and "kin" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "kent" vs "kin" - which ranks higher?
"kent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,409 in our German list, against #39,466 for "kin". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "kent" and "kin".

  • Full dictionary entry for "kent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,079,874 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kent" and "kin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kin 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

Confusion rank #1,079,874 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