kiltvskindWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#33,702
“kilt” frequency rank
#337
“kind” frequency rank
34039
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kilt kind
Definition To gather up (skirts) around the body. A type, race or category; a group of entities that have common characteristics such that they may be grouped together.

Where the eye mixes kilt and kind

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

4 ch
kilt
4 ch
kind

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kilt is /kɪlt/ while kind is /kaɪnd/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34039, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kilt is recorded at frequency rank #33,702, classified as averb, pronounced /kɪlt/. kind is at rank #337, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kaɪnd/.

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 34039, this pair ranks #324,178 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kilt vs kind

Shared letters: ik. Private to "kilt": lt. Private to "kind": dn.

"kilt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "kind" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kiltiklt · killt · kiltt · kitl · kkilt · klit
  • kindiknd · kidn · kindd · kinnd · kkind · knid

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kilt" and "kind" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kilt" is a verb and "kind" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "kilt" or "kind"?
"kind" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #337 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