keepsvsKrebsConfusable pair

Quick tell: keeps is a noun, Krebs is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“keeps” is a noun and “Krebs” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,161
“keeps” frequency rank
#36,635
“Krebs” frequency rank
38796
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature keeps Krebs
Definition plural of keep A surname from German.

Letter map: keeps vs Krebs

Shared letters muted; letters that set keeps and Krebs apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. keeps (CVVCC) and Krebs (CCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
keeps
5 ch
Krebs

Part-of-speech tell for keeps / Krebs

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: keeps is anoun and Krebsaname. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38796, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

keeps is recorded at frequency rank #2,161, classified as anoun, pronounced /kiːps/. Krebs is at rank #36,635, tagged as aname.

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 38796, this pair ranks #282,658 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of keeps vs Krebs

Shared letters: eks. Private to "keeps": p. Private to "Krebs": br.

"keeps" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "Krebs" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • keeps ← ekeps · keepps · keepss · keesp · kepes · keps · kkeeps
  • Krebs ← kerbs · kkrebs · krbes · krebbs · krebss · kresb · krrebs · rkebs

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "keeps" for "Krebs" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "keeps" is a noun and "Krebs" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "keeps" or "Krebs" show up more?
"keeps" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,161 in our English list, against #36,635 for "Krebs". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "keeps" and "Krebs".

  • Full dictionary entry for "keeps" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Krebs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #282,658 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "keeps" and "Krebs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "KBs vs Krebs". 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 #282,658 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list