Which to use
“keep” and “ken” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,061
- “keep” frequency rank
- #6,971
- “ken” frequency rank
- 28032
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | keep | ken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Garder. | Niquer (au sens sexuel), faire l’amour. |
Where the eye mixes keep and ken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses keep with ken
A purely visual mix-up. keep (\kiːp\) and ken (\kɛn\) 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 28032, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
keep is recorded at frequency rank #21,061, classified as averb, pronounced \kiːp\. ken is at rank #6,971, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɛn\.
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 28032, this pair ranks #325,304 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of keep vs ken
Shared letters: ek. Private to "keep": p. Private to "ken": n.
"keep" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "ken" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- keep ← ekep · keepp · kep · kepe · kkeep
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "keep" and "ken" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "keep" vs "ken" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "keep" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #325,304 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "keep" and "ken" 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 #325,304 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.