knowvskoolTell them apart

Which to use

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

#84
“know” frequency rank
#20,684
“kool” frequency rank
20768
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature know kool
Definition To perceive the truth or factuality of; to be certain of; to be certain that. To look; to pay attention to with one’s eyes.

Letter map: know vs kool

Shared letters muted; letters that set know and kool apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
know
4 ch
kool

Corpus notes: know and kool

know and kool are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20768, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

know is recorded at frequency rank #84, classified as averb, pronounced /nəʊ/. kool is at rank #20,684, tagged as averb.

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 20768, this pair ranks #428,799 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of know vs kool

Shared letters: ko. Private to "know": nw. Private to "kool": l.

"know" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "kool" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • knowkknow · knnow · knoww · knwo · konw · nkow
  • koolkkool · kol · kolo · kooll · okol

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "know" for "kool" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "know" or "kool"?
"know" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #84 in our English list, against #20,684 for "kool". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pair "know" vs "kool" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "know" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kool" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #428,799 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "know" and "kool" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kool 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 #428,799 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