Which to use
“kan” and “kung” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,371
- “kan” frequency rank
- #21,985
- “kung” frequency rank
- 43356
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | kan | kung |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Prince commandant chez les Mongols (autrefois appelés Tartares), les chefs d’État de Perse d’origine mongole, etc. | Roi. |
Where the eye mixes kan and kung
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. kan runs 3 letters (CVC) against kung's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses kan with kung
A purely visual mix-up. kan (\kɑ̃\) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43356, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
kan is recorded at frequency rank #21,371, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɑ̃\. kung is at rank #21,985, 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 43356, this pair ranks #218,678 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of kan vs kung
Shared letters: kn. Private to "kan": a. Private to "kung": gu.
"kan" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "kung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- kung ← kkung · knug · kugn · kungg · kunng · ukng
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "kan" for "kung" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "kan" or "kung" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "kan" 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 #218,678 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "kan" and "kung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kan vs ky". 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 #218,678 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.