km

abbrev

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

The verdict

“km” is in the everyday core of German, ranked #764 in German word frequency and used as an abbreviation.

#764
frequency rank, German
2
letters
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Einheitssymbol für Kilometer

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

km vs KW
0% similar
km vs KV
0% similar
km vs KZ
0% similar

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

Key facts for km
PropertyValue
Headwordkm
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAbbreviation
Letters2
Frequency rank#764
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “km” sits in German frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). km lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for km is 2 letters long, classified as an abbreviation. Corpus data places it at rank #764 in overall German word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Einheitssymbol für Kilometer".

No generated misspelling entries exist for km in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable German patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "KW", "KV", "KZ", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is km, spelled K-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    Einheitssymbol für Kilometer

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 "km"?
"km" is spelled K-M.
What does "km" mean?
As an abbreviation, "km" means: Einheitssymbol für Kilometer
What words are commonly confused with "km"?
"km" is commonly confused with "KW", "KV", "KZ". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "km" come from?
"km" 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.

Using “km”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct German spelling is K-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Don't mix it up with “KW” - see the side-by-side comparison. km vs KW
  • 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list