kavskataWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“ka” and “kata” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#14,298
“ka” frequency rank
#48,625
“kata” frequency rank
62923
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ka kata
Definition Autre appellation du kaon. Forme, technique dans les arts martiaux japonais.

Where the eye mixes ka and kata

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

2 ch
ka
4 ch
kata

Visual trap between ka and kata

A purely visual mix-up. ka (\kɑ\) and kata (\ka.ta\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “ka” sits inside “kata”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62923, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ka is recorded at frequency rank #14,298, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɑ\. kata is at rank #48,625, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ka.ta\.

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 62923, this pair ranks #84,535 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ka vs kata

Shared letters: ak. Private to "ka": -. Private to "kata": t.

"ka" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "kata" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kataakta · kaat · katta · kkata · ktaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ka" for "kata" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kɑ\ versus \ka.ta\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ka" vs "kata" - which ranks higher?
"ka" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,298 in our French list, against #48,625 for "kata". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ka" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kata" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #84,535 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ka" and "kata" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kata vs kite". 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 #84,535 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list