keV

abbrev

The verdict

“keV” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #37,015) as an abbreviation. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#37,015
frequency rank, German
4,158
“K” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Kiloelektronenvolt

Corpus desk

Index DE-kev · keV · German

keV · rank #37,015 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #37,015
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,158
  • PHOTO-FINISH Kernkraftwerke

Nearest frequency peer: Kernkraftwerke (-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.

Häufigkeitsnachbarn des Verwechslers „keV“

Peers mit ähnlichem Corpus-Gewicht, getrennt von den Verwechslungspaaren unten

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „keV“ gegen die nächsten gerankten deutschen Lemmata, kein Reprint der Verwechslungsdesk.

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).

keV vs km
33% similar
keV vs kg
33% similar
keV vs KW
0% similar

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

Key facts for keV
PropertyValue
HeadwordkeV
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAbbreviation
Letters3
Frequency rank#37,015
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „keV“

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.keVliegt auf dieser Marke:

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

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „Kernkraftwerke“ (#37,014), „kinderleicht“ (#37,016), „Kehrseite“ (#37,013). Unter 4,158 „K“-Lemmata liegt „keV“ bei #37,015. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for keV is neighbouring look-alikes ("km", "kg", …), not just typos; it is anabbreviation. Frequency #37,015 among 4,158 “K” headwords. Gloss: "Kiloelektronenvolt".

keV doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "km", "kg", "KW", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is keV, spelled K-E-V.

Definition

  1. 1
    Kiloelektronenvolt

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. 1 keV entspricht in etwa 1,6 10⁻¹⁶ Joule.
  2. Welche Wellenlänge hat ein Röntgenphoton der Energie 10 keV (10.000 eV)?

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 "keV"?
"keV" is spelled K-E-V.
What does "keV" mean?
As an abbreviation, "keV" means: Kiloelektronenvolt
What words are commonly confused with "keV"?
"keV" is commonly confused with "km", "kg", "KW". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "keV" come from?
"keV" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "keV", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list