knee
/niː/
"knee" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“knee” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #4,098 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #4,098
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - In humans, the joint or the region of the joint in the middle part of the leg between the thigh and the shank.
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 | knee |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /niː/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #4,098 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “knee” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for knee is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /niː/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,098 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for knee, with forms such as "kene", "kknee", and "kne". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "kno", "know", "knew", 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 kne, from Old English cnēow, from Proto-West Germanic *kneu, from Proto-Germanic *knewą, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵnéw-o-m, a thematic derivative of *ǵónu. See also West Frisian knibbel, Low German Knee, Knie, Dutch knie, German Knie, D… The correct English form is knee, spelled K-N-E-E.
Definition
- 1In humans, the joint or the region of the joint in the middle part of the leg between the thigh and the shank.
- 2In the horse and allied animals, the carpal joint, corresponding to the wrist in humans.
- 3In birds:
- 4In birds:
- 5The part of a garment that covers the knee.
- 6A piece of timber or metal formed with an angle somewhat in the shape of the human knee when bent.
- 7An act of kneeling, especially to show respect or courtesy.
- 8Any knee-shaped item or sharp angle in a line; an inflection point.
- 9A blow made with the knee; a kneeing.
- 10The presence of a parent etc., where a young child acquires early knowledge.
Etymology
From Middle English kne, from Old English cnēow, from Proto-West Germanic *kneu, from Proto-Germanic *knewą, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵnéw-o-m, a thematic derivative of *ǵónu. See also West Frisian knibbel, Low German Knee, Knie, Dutch knie, German Knie, Danish knæ, Norwegian kne, Swedish knä; also Hittite 𒄀𒉡 (genu), Latin genū, Tocharian A kanweṃ (dual), Tocharian B kenī, Ancient Greek γόνυ (gónu, “knee”), γωνία (gōnía, “corner, angle”), Welsh glin (“knee”), Old Armenian ծունր (cunr), Avestan 𐬲𐬥𐬎𐬨 (žnum), Sanskrit जानु (jā́nu). The obsolete plural kneen is from Middle English kneen, knen, kneon, kneuwene.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: kene,kknee,kne,knnee,nkee
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of knee - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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
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Using “knee”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is K-N-E-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /niː/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “kno” - see the side-by-side comparison. knee vs kno
- 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.