Which to use
“Ke” is a name and “ko” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,978
- “Ke” frequency rank
- #10,717
- “ko” frequency rank
- 25695
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Ke | ko |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A surname. | A local shape to which the ko rule applies; a ko shape. |
Letter map: Ke vs ko
Shared letters muted; letters that set Ke and ko apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.
Part-of-speech tell for Ke / ko
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Ke is aname and koanoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - e in “Ke” becomes o in “ko”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25695, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Ke is recorded at frequency rank #14,978, classified as aname. ko is at rank #10,717, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkəʊ/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 25695, this pair ranks #392,339 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Ke vs ko
Shared letters: k. Private to "Ke": e. Private to "ko": o.
"Ke" · 2 letters · shape CV · "ko" · 2 letters · shape CV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Ke" for "ko" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Ke" vs "ko" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pair "Ke" vs "ko" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "Ke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ko" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #392,339 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Ke" and "ko" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ke vs Kop". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #392,339 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.