Which to use
“ke” and “keep” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,717
- “ke” frequency rank
- #21,061
- “keep” frequency rank
- 35778
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ke | keep |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe kam. | Garder. |
Where the eye mixes ke and keep
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: ke vs keep
A purely visual mix-up. ke (\ˈke\) and keep (\kiːp\) 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) - “ke” sits inside “keep”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35778, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ke is recorded at frequency rank #14,717, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈke\. keep is at rank #21,061, tagged as averb, pronounced \kiːp\.
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 35778, this pair ranks #274,299 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ke vs keep
Shared letters: ek. Private to "ke": -. Private to "keep": p.
"ke" · 2 letters · shape CV · "keep" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- keep ← ekep · keepp · kep · kepe · kkeep
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ke" and "keep" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "ke" or "keep" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "ke" and "keep" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "keep" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #274,299 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ke" and "keep" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "keep vs Kehl". 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 #274,299 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.