keysvskitsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“keys” and “kits” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#26,075
“keys” frequency rank
#22,600
“kits” frequency rank
48675
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature keys kits
Definition Pluriel de key. Pluriel de kit.

Where the eye mixes keys and kits

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
keys
4 ch
kits

Visual trap between keys and kits

A purely visual mix-up. keys (\ˈkiːz\) and kits (\kit\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48675, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

keys is recorded at frequency rank #26,075, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈkiːz\. kits is at rank #22,600, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kit\.

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 48675, this pair ranks #176,910 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of keys vs kits

Shared letters: ks. Private to "keys": ey. Private to "kits": it.

"keys" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "kits" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • keysekys · kesy · keyss · keyys · kkeys · kyes
  • kitsikts · kist · kitss · kitts · kkits · ktis

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "keys" and "kits" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ˈkiːz\ versus \kit\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "keys" or "kits" show up more?
"kits" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,600 in our French list, against #26,075 for "keys". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "keys" and "kits" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "keys" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kits" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #176,910 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "keys" and "kits" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "keys 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 #176,910 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