KindevsKnieWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#39,467
“Kinde” frequency rank
#3,596
“Knie” frequency rank
43063
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kinde Knie
Definition Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Kind vorderer Teil des Kniegelenks beim Menschen und anderen Säugetieren

Where the eye mixes Kinde and Knie

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

5 ch
Kinde
4 ch
Knie

Why the eye confuses Kinde with Knie

A purely visual mix-up. Kinde ([ˈkɪndə]) and Knie ([kniː]) 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 43063, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kinde is recorded at frequency rank #39,467, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkɪndə]. Knie is at rank #3,596, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kniː].

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 43063, this pair ranks #1,429,753 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Kinde vs Knie

Shared letters: eikn. Private to "Kinde": d. Private to "Knie": -.

"Kinde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Knie" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kinde ← iknde · kidne · kindde · kined · kinnde · kkinde · knide
  • Knie ← kine · kknie · knei · knnie · nkie

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Kinde" for "Knie" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkɪndə] versus [kniː]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Kinde" or "Knie" show up more?
"Knie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,596 in our German list, against #39,467 for "Kinde". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kinde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Knie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,429,753 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kinde" and "Knie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kandel vs Kinde". 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 #1,429,753 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