KiesvskingsTell them apart

Which to use

“Kies” and “kings” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#18,946
“Kies” frequency rank
#15,669
“kings” frequency rank
34615
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kies kings
Definition lose Gesteinsstücke in einer Korngröße von etwa 3 mm bis 30 mm Plural des Substantivs king

Where the eye mixes Kies and kings

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

4 ch
Kies
5 ch
kings

Why the eye confuses Kies with kings

A purely visual mix-up. Kies ([kiːs]) and kings ([kɪŋz]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34615, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kies is recorded at frequency rank #18,946, classified as anoun, pronounced [kiːs]. kings is at rank #15,669, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kɪŋz].

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 34615, this pair ranks #1,659,198 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Kies vs kings

Shared letters: iks. Private to "Kies": e. Private to "kings": gn.

"Kies" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "kings" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kiesikes · keis · kiess · kise · kkies
  • kingsikngs · kigns · kinggs · kingss · kinngs · kinsg · kkings · knigs

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Kies" and "kings" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kiːs] versus [kɪŋz]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Kies" vs "kings" - which ranks higher?
"kings" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,669 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.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "Kies" and "kings" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kings" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,659,198 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kies" and "kings" 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 #1,659,198 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