Which to use
“ken” is a verb and “khan” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,971
- “ken” frequency rank
- #10,731
- “khan” frequency rank
- 17702
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ken | khan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Niquer (au sens sexuel), faire l’amour. | Prince commandant chez les Mongols (autrefois appelés Tartares), les chefs d’État de Perse d’origine mongole, etc. Qagan (qaganus en latin) pour l’empereur déjà chez les Huns vers 450. |
Where the eye mixes ken and khan
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: ken vs khan
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ken is \kɛn\ while khan is \kɑ̃\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17702, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ken is recorded at frequency rank #6,971, classified as averb, pronounced \kɛn\. khan is at rank #10,731, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɑ̃\.
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 17702, this pair ranks #381,878 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ken vs khan
Shared letters: kn. Private to "ken": e. Private to "khan": ah.
"ken" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "khan" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- khan ← hkan · khann · khhan · khna · kkhan
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ken" for "khan" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ken" vs "khan" - which ranks higher?
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 "ken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "khan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #381,878 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ken" and "khan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "khan vs kwon". 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 #381,878 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.