kid

/kɪd/

//kɪd// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"kid" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“kid” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #1,107) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#1,107
frequency rank, English
1,236
“K” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A child, adolescent, or (loosely) a young adult.

Corpus desk

Index EN-kid · kid · English

kid · rank #1,107 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,107
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,236
  • PHOTO-FINISH Jesus

Nearest frequency peer: Jesus (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “kid”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “kid” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

kid vs ky
33% similar
kid vs ko
33% similar
kid vs Ku
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for kid
PropertyValue
Headwordkid
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/kɪd/
Letters3
Frequency rank#1,107
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “kid” sits in English frequency

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).kidlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “Jesus” (#1,106), “link” (#1,108), “feet” (#1,105). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for kid is neighbouring look-alikes ("ky", "ko", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /kɪd/. Frequency #1,107 among 1,236 “K” headwords. 11 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for kid, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ky", "ko", "Ku", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English kide, from Old Norse kið (“young goat”), from Proto-Germanic *kidją, *kittīną (“goatling, kid”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *gʰaydn-, *ǵʰaydn- (“goat”) or Proto-Indo-European *gidʰ- (“kid, goatling, little goat”). Compare Swedish a… The correct English form is kid, spelled K-I-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    A child, adolescent, or (loosely) a young adult.
  2. 2
    A child, adolescent, or (loosely) a young adult.
  3. 3
    A child, adolescent, or (loosely) a young adult.
  4. 4
    A child, adolescent, or (loosely) a young adult.
  5. 5
    A child, adolescent, or (loosely) a young adult.
  6. 6
    A young goat.
  7. 7
    A young goat.
  8. 8
    A young goat.
  9. 9
    A young antelope.
  10. 10
    A deception; an act of kidding somebody.
  11. 11
    A small wooden mess tub in which sailors received their food.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how kid appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. She's a kid. It's normal for her to have imaginary friends.
  2. “So you’ve got the kid,” said Sikes, when they had all reached the room: closing the door as he spoke. ¶ “Yes, here he is,” replied Nancy. ¶ “Did he come quiet?” inquired Sikes. ¶ “Like a lamb,” rejoined Nancy.

Etymology

From Middle English kide, from Old Norse kið (“young goat”), from Proto-Germanic *kidją, *kittīną (“goatling, kid”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *gʰaydn-, *ǵʰaydn- (“goat”) or Proto-Indo-European *gidʰ- (“kid, goatling, little goat”). Compare Swedish and Danish kid, German Kitz and Kitze, Albanian kedh and kec. The sense of child has been in use since the 1590s as slang, and since the 1840s in informal use.

This word in other languages

niño(Español)gamin(Français)Kind(Deutsch)criança(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "kid"?
"kid" is spelled K-I-D. The IPA pronunciation is /kɪd/.
What does "kid" mean?
As a noun, "kid" means: A child, adolescent, or (loosely) a young adult.
What words are commonly confused with "kid"?
"kid" is commonly confused with "ky", "ko", "Ku". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "kid"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "kid" is /kɪd/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "kid"?
From Middle English kide, from Old Norse kið (“young goat”), from Proto-Germanic *kidją, *kittīną (“goatling, kid”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *gʰaydn-, *ǵʰaydn- (“goat”) or Proto-Indo-European *gidʰ- (“kid, goatling, little goat”). Compare... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "kid", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

ice#1,081san#1,148ass#1,065sun#1,154

What to do next

You've looked up "kid". Here's where to go from here.

  • "kid" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "ky". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #1,107 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more English words in the "K" letter cohort. K–Z browse
  • PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list