kein
[kaɪ̯n]
The verdict
“kein” is in the everyday core of German, ranked #119 in German word frequency and used as a pronoun.
- #119
- frequency rank, German
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - null, nichts, Null
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | kein |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Pronoun |
| IPA | [kaɪ̯n] |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #119 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “kein” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for kein is 4 letters long, classified as a pronoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [kaɪ̯n]. Corpus data places it at rank #119 in overall German word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for kein, with forms such as "ekin", "keinn", and "keni". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "KI", "Kim", "key", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is kein, spelled K-E-I-N.
Definition
- 1null, nichts, Null
- 2null, nichts, Null
- 3null, nichts, Null
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ekin,keinn,keni,kien,kkein
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of kein - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “kein”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is K-E-I-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [kaɪ̯n] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “KI” - see the side-by-side comparison. kein vs KI
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.