Which to use
“keen” is an adjective and “kept” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,804
- “keen” frequency rank
- #1,086
- “kept” frequency rank
- 6890
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | keen | kept |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Often with a prepositional phrase, or with to and an infinitive: showing a quick and ardent responsiveness or willingness; eager, enthusiastic, interested. | simple past and past participle of keep |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set keen and kept apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
keen and kept form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6890, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
keen is recorded at frequency rank #5,804, classified as anadj, pronounced /kiːn/. kept is at rank #1,086, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈkɛpt/.
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 6890, this pair ranks #509,547 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "keen" and "kept" be used interchangeably?
Remembering keen vs kept
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “keen”; for a verb, it's “kept”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “keen” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable