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PlainSpell

king

/ˈkɪŋ/noun, verb

king is spelled K-I-N-G: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 148 times per million words in written English, the 697th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, king means “A male monarch; a man who heads a monarchy; in an absolute monarchy, the supreme ruler of his nation” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of king is kings.

How many letters and syllables are in king?

Letters4: K-I-N-G
Syllables1
In writing148 times per million words; the 697th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 king?

King appears 148 times per million words in written English, the 697th 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 king?

  • /ˈkɪŋ/
  • [ˈkʰɪŋ]
  • /ˈkiŋ/

King has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-the_king.ogg, En-us-king.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with king

Also written: qing.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with king?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as king.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: gink.

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 king

  • kings plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • kinging participle, present
  • kinged participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does king mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A male monarch; a man who heads a monarchy; in an absolute monarchy, the supreme ruler of his nation.

    Henry VIII was the king of England from 1509 to 1547.

  2. 2

    The monarch with the most power and authority in a monarchy, regardless of sex.

  3. 3

    AustraliaA male leader of a traditional Aboriginal group, often used as a title by colonists.

  4. 4

    A powerful or majorly influential person; someone who holds the preeminent position.

    Howard Stern styled himself as the "king of all media".

  5. 5

    Something that has a preeminent position.

    In times of financial panic, cash is king.

  6. 6

    slangA man worthy of respect.

    I'm sure you got the job, king.

  7. 7

    The principal chess piece, that players seek to threaten with unavoidable capture to result in a victory by checkmate. It is often the tallest piece, with a symbolic crown with a cross at the top.

  8. 8

    A playing card with the letter "K" and the image of a king on it, the thirteenth card in a given suit.

  9. 9

    Alternative form of qing (“Chinese musical instrument”).

verb

  1. 1

    To crown king, to make (a person) king.

  2. 2

    To rule over as king.

  3. 3

    To perform the duties of a king.

  4. 4

    To assume or pretend preeminence (over); to lord it over.

  5. 5

    To promote a piece of draughts/checkers that has traversed the board to the opposite side, that piece subsequently being permitted to move backwards as well as forwards.

  6. 6

    To dress and perform as a drag king.

noun

as King
  1. 1

    radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter K.

  2. 2

    The title of a king.

  3. 3

    A King pigeon.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate king?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of king: K.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

King in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchroi (a male of a royal family who is the supreme…), dame ((draughts, checkers) a piece that reached the…)
GermanKönig (a male of a royal family who is the supreme…), Dame ((draughts, checkers) a piece that reached the…)
Portugueserei (a male of a royal family who is the supreme…), dama ((draughts, checkers) a piece that reached the…)
Spanishrey (a male of a royal family who is the supreme…), dama, reina ((draughts, checkers) a piece that reached the…), coronar (in checkers)

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 king come from?

From Middle English king, kyng, kynge, from Old English cening, cing, cining, cuning, cyncg, cyneg, cyng, cyngc, cynig, cyning, king, kining, kuning, kyning, kyningc (“king”), from Proto-West Germanic *kuning, from Proto-Germanic *kuningaz, *kunungaz (“king”), from *kunją (“clan, family, kin”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to produce; to beget”). Equivalent to kin + -ing. Doublet of cyning and knez.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after king