kay
/keɪ/noun, interjection
kay is spelled K-A-Y: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 8.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,910th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, kay means “The name of the Latin script letter K/k” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of kay is kays.
How many letters and syllables are in kay?
| Letters | 3: K-A-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 8.5 times per million words; the 7,910th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is kay?
Kay appears 8.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,910th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce kay?
- /keɪ/
Kay has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-kay.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with kay
Also written: cay.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with kay?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as kay from its last stressed vowel (/eɪ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: yak.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of kay
- kays plural
- 'kay
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does kay mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The name of the Latin script letter K/k.
- 2
colloquialA kilometer.
- 3
colloquialA thousand of some unit (from kilo-).
- 4
datedDated form of cay.
interjection
- 1
colloquialApheretic form of okay.
noun
- 1
Alternative letter-case form of kay.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Kay in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense name of the letter K, k:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does kay come from?
From Latin kā.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).