KGB

abbrev

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

The verdict

“KGB” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #28,269) as an abbreviation. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#28,269
frequency rank, German
4,158
“K” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Komitet Gossudarstwennoi Besopasnosti (sowjetischer Geheimdienst)

Corpus desk

Index DE-kgb · KGB · German

KGB · rank #28,269 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #28,269
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-0 0 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,158
  • PHOTO-FINISH Kellnerin

Nearest frequency peer: Kellnerin (-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 „KGB“

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

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „KGB“ 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).

KGB vs km
0% similar
KGB vs KW
33% similar
KGB vs KI
33% similar

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

Key facts for KGB
PropertyValue
HeadwordKGB
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAbbreviation
Letters3
Frequency rank#28,269
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „KGB“

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

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

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „Kellnerin“ (#28,268), „kicken“ (#28,270), „katastrophale“ (#28,267). Unter 4,158 „K“-Lemmata liegt „KGB“ bei #28,269. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for KGB is neighbouring look-alikes ("km", "KW", …), not just typos; it is anabbreviation. Frequency #28,269 among 4,158 “K” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

No misspelling variants are generated for KGB in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "km", "KW", "KI", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is KGB, spelled K-G-B.

Definition

  1. 1
    Komitet Gossudarstwennoi Besopasnosti (sowjetischer Geheimdienst)
  2. 2
    Komitet gosudarstvennoj bezopasnosti (weißrussischer Geheimdienst)

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Sein Vater wurde damals vom KGB verhört.

Synonyms

KDB

Antonyms

FSBSWR

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 "KGB"?
"KGB" is spelled K-G-B.
What does "KGB" mean?
As an abbreviation, "KGB" means: Komitet Gossudarstwennoi Besopasnosti (sowjetischer Geheimdienst)
What words are commonly confused with "KGB"?
"KGB" is commonly confused with "km", "KW", "KI". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "KGB" come from?
"KGB" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "KGB", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

gnu#28,229Gig#28,223Sui#28,407UKW#28,432

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list