Which to use
“keel” and “ker” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,716
- “keel” frequency rank
- #38,929
- “ker” frequency rank
- 61645
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | keel | ker |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A large beam along the underside of a ship’s hull from bow to stern. | A chief of the Luo people. |
Letter map: keel vs ker
Shared letters muted; letters that set keel and ker apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. keel runs 4 letters (CVVC) against ker's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Pair insight - keel / ker
keel and ker are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61645, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
keel is recorded at frequency rank #22,716, classified as anoun, pronounced /kiːl/. ker is at rank #38,929, tagged as anoun.
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 61645, this pair ranks #93,041 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of keel vs ker
Shared letters: ek. Private to "keel": l. Private to "ker": r.
"keel" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "ker" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- keel ← ekel · keell · kel · kele · kkeel
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "keel" and "ker" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "keel" vs "ker" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pair "keel" vs "ker" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "keel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ker" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #93,041 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "keel" and "ker" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ker vs Kop". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #93,041 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.