kidsvskiltWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: kids is a noun, kilt is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“kids” is a noun and “kilt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#530
“kids” frequency rank
#33,702
“kilt” frequency rank
34232
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kids kilt
Definition plural of kid To gather up (skirts) around the body.

Where the eye mixes kids and kilt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
kids
4 ch
kilt

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kids is /kɪdz/ while kilt is /kɪlt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34232, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kids is recorded at frequency rank #530, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɪdz/. kilt is at rank #33,702, tagged as averb, pronounced /kɪlt/.

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 34232, this pair ranks #322,530 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kids vs kilt

Shared letters: ik. Private to "kids": ds. Private to "kilt": lt.

"kids" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "kilt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kidsikds · kdis · kidds · kidss · kisd · kkids
  • kiltiklt · killt · kiltt · kitl · kkilt · klit

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kids" and "kilt" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kids" is a noun and "kilt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "kids" or "kilt"?
"kids" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #530 in our English list, against #33,702 for "kilt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list