Kiev
[ˈkijɛf]
The verdict
“Kiev” is uncommon German (frequency #65,407 among 55,078 “K” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #65,407
- frequency rank, German
- 55,078
- “K” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Hauptstadt der Ukraine
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Kiev |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | [ˈkijɛf] |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #65,407 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Kiev” sits in German frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Kiev is uncommon German at frequency #65,407 among 55,078 “K” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed [ˈkijɛf]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Hauptstadt der Ukraine".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for Kiev, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is Kiev, spelled K-I-E-V.
Definition
- 1Hauptstadt der Ukraine
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 “Kiev”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is K-I-E-V - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈkijɛf] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Other uncommon German words near this rank
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.