kennen

[ˈkɛnən]

/[ˈkɛnən]/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“kennen” has 7 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #733. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#733
frequency rank, German
4,158
“K” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - über jemanden/etwas Bescheid wissen

Corpus desk

Index DE-kennen · kennen · German

kennen · rank #733 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #733
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,158
  • PHOTO-FINISH handelt

Nearest frequency peer: handelt (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „kennen“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „kennen“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im Edit-Distance-Chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

kennen vs kennt
67% similar
kennen vs könne
67% similar
kennen vs Knien
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for kennen
PropertyValue
Headwordkennen
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˈkɛnən]
Letters6
Frequency rank#733
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „kennen“

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.kennenliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „handelt“ (#732), „Kunst“ (#734), „zehn“ (#731). Unter 4,158 „K“-Lemmata liegt „kennen“ bei #733. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around kennen (IPA [ˈkɛnən]), averb. Corpus frequency is #733 among 4,158 “K” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for kennen, with forms such as "eknnen", "kenen", and "kenenn". 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, "kennt", "könne", "Knien", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is kennen, spelled K-E-N-N-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    über jemanden/etwas Bescheid wissen
  2. 2
    mit jemandem bekannt sein

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how kennen appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Ich kenne die Gegend.
  2. Ja, ja - ich kenne das schon.

Synonyms

auskennenbekanntseinbefreundetsein

This word in other languages

know(English)saber(Español)connaître(Français)saber(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • eknnen
  • kenen
  • kenenn
  • kennenn
  • kennne
  • kkennen
  • knenen

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of kennen - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

eknnen2kenen1kenenn2kennenn1kennne2kkennen1knenen2
Edit distance from "kennen"

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

How do you spell "kennen"?
"kennen" is spelled K-E-N-N-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈkɛnən].
What does "kennen" mean?
As a verb, "kennen" means: über jemanden/etwas Bescheid wissen
What words are commonly confused with "kennen"?
"kennen" is commonly confused with "kennt", "könne", "Knien". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "kennen"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "kennen" is [ˈkɛnən]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "kennen" come from?
"kennen" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "kennen", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

sorgen#737Stunde#724Sommer#723Chance#745

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

Menge7 variantsMeter7 variantsdrauf7 variantsihres7 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list