# ken vs kun

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### ken
*verb · IPA /kɛn/ · frequency rank #5,057*
To give birth, conceive, beget, be born; to develop (as a fetus); to nourish, sustain (as life).

### kun
*noun · frequency rank #20,404*
In the Japanese language, the pronunciation, or reading, of a kanji character as a native Japanese word that means what the character represents, contrasted with on.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ken-vs-kun