KiesvsKreisTell them apart

Which to use

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

#18,946
“Kies” frequency rank
#861
“Kreis” frequency rank
19807
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kies Kreis
Definition lose Gesteinsstücke in einer Korngröße von etwa 3 mm bis 30 mm geometrischer Ort aller Punkte, die von einem gegebenen Punkt, dem (Kreis-)Mittelpunkt, den gleichen Abstand haben, genannt (Kreis-)Radius

Where the eye mixes Kies and Kreis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Kies runs 4 letters (CVVC) against Kreis's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Kies
5 ch
Kreis

Look-alike desk: Kies vs Kreis

A purely visual mix-up. Kies ([kiːs]) and Kreis ([kʁaɪ̯s]) 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 19807, 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]. Kreis is at rank #861, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kʁaɪ̯s].

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 19807, this pair ranks #1,904,379 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Kies vs Kreis

Shared letters: eiks. Private to "Kies": -. Private to "Kreis": r.

"Kies" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Kreis" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kiesikes · keis · kiess · kise · kkies
  • Kreiskeris · kkreis · kreiss · kresi · kries · krreis · rkeis

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Kies" and "Kreis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kiːs] versus [kʁaɪ̯s]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Kies" or "Kreis"?
"Kreis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #861 in our German list, against #18,946 for "Kies". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Kies" and "Kreis" 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 "Kreis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,904,379 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kies" and "Kreis" 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 #1,904,379 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