knownvsLincolnConfusable pair

Quick tell: known is a verb, Lincoln is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“known” is a verb and “Lincoln” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,645
“known” frequency rank
#12,121
“Lincoln” frequency rank
52766
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature known Lincoln
Definition Partizip Perfekt (past participle) des Verbs know Hauptstadt von Nebraska, USA

Letter map: known vs Lincoln

Shared letters muted; letters that set known and Lincoln apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. known runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against Lincoln's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
known
7 ch
Lincoln

Role in the sentence - known and Lincoln

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: known is averb and Lincolnaname. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52766, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

known is recorded at frequency rank #40,645, classified as averb, pronounced […]. Lincoln is at rank #12,121, tagged as aname, 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 52766, this pair ranks #1,084,062 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of known vs Lincoln

Shared letters: no. Private to "known": kw. Private to "Lincoln": cil.

"known" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "Lincoln" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • knownkknown · knnown · knonw · knownn · knowwn · knwon · konwn · nkown
  • Lincolnilncoln · licnoln · linccoln · linclon · lincolln · lincolnn · linconl · linncoln

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "known" and "Lincoln" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "known" is a verb and "Lincoln" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "known" vs "Lincoln" - which ranks higher?
"Lincoln" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,121 in our German list, against #40,645 for "known". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "known" vs "Lincoln" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "known" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lincoln" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,084,062 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "known" and "Lincoln" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "known 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 #1,084,062 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