klingvskungWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: kling is a verb, kung is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“kling” is a verb and “kung” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,403
“kling” frequency rank
#22,408
“kung” frequency rank
46811
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kling kung
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs klingen monarchisches Oberhaupt eines Königreichs; König

Letter map: kling vs kung

Shared letters muted; letters that set kling and kung apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. kling runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against kung's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
kling
4 ch
kung

Part-of-speech tell for kling / kung

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: kling is averb and kunganoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46811, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kling is recorded at frequency rank #24,403, classified as averb, pronounced [klɪŋ]. kung is at rank #22,408, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 46811, this pair ranks #1,306,173 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kling vs kung

Shared letters: gkn. Private to "kling": il. Private to "kung": u.

"kling" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "kung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kling ← kilng · kkling · klign · klingg · klinng · klling · klnig · lking
  • kung ← kkung · knug · kugn · kungg · kunng · ukng

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kling" and "kung" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kling" is a verb and "kung" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "kling" vs "kung" - which ranks higher?
"kung" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,408 in our German list, against #24,403 for "kling". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "kling" and "kung". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kling" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,306,173 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kling" and "kung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kung vs puzzles". 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 #1,306,173 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