karvskiWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: kar is a adjective, ki is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“kar” is an adjective and “ki” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,130
“kar” frequency rank
#8,569
“ki” frequency rank
53699
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kar ki
Definition Sourd. Variante orthographique de qui.

Where the eye mixes kar and ki

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
kar
2 ch
ki

Visual trap between kar and ki

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kar is \cɑr\ while ki is \ki\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53699, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kar is recorded at frequency rank #45,130, classified as anadj, pronounced \cɑr\. ki is at rank #8,569, tagged as apron, pronounced \ki\.

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 53699, this pair ranks #138,990 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kar vs ki

Shared letters: k. Private to "kar": ar. Private to "ki": i.

"kar" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "ki" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "kar" for "ki" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kar" is an adjective and "ki" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "kar" or "ki" show up more?
"ki" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,569 in our French list, against #45,130 for "kar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ki" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #138,990 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kar" and "ki" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kar vs ky". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #138,990 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