km

symbol

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

The verdict

“km” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #1,030 in French word frequency and used as a symbol.

#1,030
frequency rank, French
2
letters
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Symbole du kilomètre, unité de mesure de longueur du Système international (SI), valant 1000 mètres (10³ mètres).

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

km vs ko
50% similar
km vs kW
50% similar
km vs ku
50% similar

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

Key facts for km
PropertyValue
Headwordkm
LanguageFrench
Part of speechSymbol
Letters2
Frequency rank#1,030
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “km” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). km lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for km is 2 letters long, classified as a symbol. Corpus data places it at rank #1,030 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for km, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ko", "kW", "ku", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is km, spelled K-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    Symbole du kilomètre, unité de mesure de longueur du Système international (SI), valant 1000 mètres (10³ mètres).
  2. 2
    Symbole du préfixe kiloméga-, utilisé par le monde anglo-saxon au XXᵉ siècle.
  3. 3
    Code ISO 639-1 (alpha-2) du khmer.

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "km"?
"km" is spelled K-M.
What does "km" mean?
As a symbol, "km" means: Symbole du kilomètre, unité de mesure de longueur du Système international (SI), valant 1000 mètres (10³ mètres).
What words are commonly confused with "km"?
"km" is commonly confused with "ko", "kW", "ku". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "km" come from?
"km" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Using “km”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is K-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Don't mix it up with “ko” - see the side-by-side comparison. km vs ko
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list