keptvskmtConfusable pair

Quick tell: kept is a verb, kmt is a phrase, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“kept” is a verb and “kmt” is a phrase - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,086
“kept” frequency rank
#34,151
“kmt” frequency rank
35237
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kept kmt
Definition simple past and past participle of keep Initialism of kissing my teeth: used to express disapproval, annoyance, or frustration.

Letter map: kept vs kmt

Shared letters muted; letters that set kept and kmt apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
kept
3 ch
kmt

Role in the sentence - kept and kmt

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: kept is averb and kmtaphrase. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35237, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kept is recorded at frequency rank #1,086, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈkɛpt/. kmt is at rank #34,151, tagged as aphrase.

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 35237, this pair ranks #313,680 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kept vs kmt

Shared letters: kt. Private to "kept": ep. Private to "kmt": m.

"kept" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "kmt" · 3 letters · shape CCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • keptekpt · keppt · keptt · ketp · kkept · kpet

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "kept" for "kmt" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kept" is a verb and "kmt" a phrase, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "kept" or "kmt" show up more?
"kept" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,086 in our English list, against #34,151 for "kmt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "kept" and "kmt". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kept" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kmt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #313,680 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kept" and "kmt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kmt 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 #313,680 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