Which to use
“kern” and “key” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,580
- “kern” frequency rank
- #788
- “key” frequency rank
- 24368
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | kern | key |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A corn; grain; kernel. | An object designed to open and close a lock. |
Where the eye mixes kern and key
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between kern and key
A purely visual mix-up. kern (/kɜːn/) and key (/kiː/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24368, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
kern is recorded at frequency rank #23,580, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɜːn/. key is at rank #788, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kiː/.
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 24368, this pair ranks #402,464 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of kern vs key
Shared letters: ek. Private to "kern": nr. Private to "key": y.
"kern" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "key" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- kern ← ekrn · kenr · kernn · kerrn · kkern · kren
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "kern" for "key" ever safe?
Frequency check: "kern" vs "key" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "kern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "key" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #402,464 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "kern" and "key" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kern vs Khun". 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 #402,464 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.