kinovskungTell them apart

Which to use

“kino” and “kung” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#44,816
“kino” frequency rank
#21,378
“kung” frequency rank
66194
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kino kung
Definition Cine (el arte) Rey.

Where the eye mixes kino and kung

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
kino
4 ch
kung

Visual trap between kino and kung

A purely visual mix-up. kino ([ˈkino]) and kung ([kɵŋ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66194, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kino is recorded at frequency rank #44,816, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkino]. kung is at rank #21,378, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kɵŋ].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 66194, this pair ranks #40,506 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of kino vs kung

Shared letters: kn. Private to "kino": io. Private to "kung": gu.

"kino" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "kung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kinoikno · kinno · kion · kkino · knio
  • kungkkung · knug · kugn · kungg · kunng · ukng

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "kino" for "kung" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkino] versus [kɵŋ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "kino" or "kung" show up more?
"kung" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,378 in our Spanish list, against #44,816 for "kino". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "kino" and "kung" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kino" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #40,506 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kino" and "kung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kimono vs kino". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #40,506 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list