kidney
/ˈkɪdni/
"kidney" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“kidney” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #6,802 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #6,802
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An organ in the body that filters the blood, producing urine.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | kidney |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkɪdni/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #6,802 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “kidney” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for kidney is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkɪdni/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,802 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for kidney, with forms such as "ikdney", "kdiney", and "kiddney". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 5 confusable-pair relationships, "kinky", "Kinney", "Kinsey", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English kedney, kydeney, from earlier kidnēre, kidenēre (“kidney”), of obscure origin and formation. Probably a compound consisting of Middle English *kid, *quid (“belly, womb”), from Old English cwiþ, cwiþa (“belly, womb, stomach”) + Middle Eng… The correct English form is kidney, spelled K-I-D-N-E-Y.
Definition
- 1An organ in the body that filters the blood, producing urine.
- 2This organ (of an animal) cooked as food.
- 3Constitution, temperament, nature, type, character, disposition. (usually used of people)
- 4A waiter.
Etymology
From Middle English kedney, kydeney, from earlier kidnēre, kidenēre (“kidney”), of obscure origin and formation. Probably a compound consisting of Middle English *kid, *quid (“belly, womb”), from Old English cwiþ, cwiþa (“belly, womb, stomach”) + Middle English nēre (“kidney”), from Old English *nēora (“kidney”), from Proto-West Germanic *neurō, from Proto-Germanic *neurô (“kidney”), from Proto-Indo-European *negʷʰr- (“kidney”). If so, then related to dialectal English near (“kidney”), Scots nere, neir (“kidney”), Saterland Frisian Njuure (“kidney”), Dutch nier (“kidney”), German Niere (“kidney”), Danish nyre (“kidney”), Norwegian nyre (“kidney”), Swedish njure (“kidney”), Ancient Greek νεφρός (nephrós). Alternate etymology traces the first element to Old English *cydde (“sack, belly, scrotum”), from Proto-Germanic *kuddijā (“sack”) as the terms for testicle and kidney were often interchangeable in Germanic (compare Old High German nioro (“kidney", also "testicle”), Old Swedish vig-niauri (“testicle”)). More at codpiece.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ikdney,kdiney,kiddney,kideny,kidneyy,kidnney,kidnye,kindey,kkidney
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of kidney - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "kidney"?
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Using “kidney”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is K-I-D-N-E-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkɪdni/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “kinky” - see the side-by-side comparison. kidney vs kinky
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.