kicksvskitsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“kicks” and “kits” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,371
“kicks” frequency rank
#9,912
“kits” frequency rank
16283
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kicks kits
Definition plural of kick plural of kit

Where the eye mixes kicks and kits

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
kicks
4 ch
kits

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. kicks (/kɪks/) and kits (/kɪts/) 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 16283, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kicks is recorded at frequency rank #6,371, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɪks/. kits is at rank #9,912, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɪts/.

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 16283, this pair ranks #458,757 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kicks vs kits

Shared letters: iks. Private to "kicks": c. Private to "kits": t.

"kicks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "kits" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kicksikcks · kciks · kiccks · kickks · kickss · kicsk · kikcs · kkicks
  • kitsikts · kist · kitss · kitts · kkits · ktis

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kicks" and "kits" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kɪks/ versus /kɪts/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "kicks" or "kits"?
"kicks" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,371 in our English list, against #9,912 for "kits". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list