Which to use
“kilo” and “king” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,607
- “kilo” frequency rank
- #4,159
- “king” frequency rank
- 16766
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | kilo | king |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (radiotéléphonie) Mot de code radiotéléphonique de l'OACI, OTAN et SIA pour la lettre latine K. | Qing. Unité traditionnelle chinoise de surface agricole, valant 100 meou ou environ 6 hectares. |
Where the eye mixes kilo and king
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses kilo with king
A purely visual mix-up. kilo (\ˈkilo\) and king (\kiŋ\) 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 16766, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
kilo is recorded at frequency rank #12,607, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈkilo\. king is at rank #4,159, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kiŋ\.
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 16766, this pair ranks #386,351 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of kilo vs king
Shared letters: ik. Private to "kilo": lo. Private to "king": gn.
"kilo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "king" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "kilo" and "king" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "kilo" vs "king" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "kilo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "king" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #386,351 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "kilo" and "king" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kiko vs kilo". 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 #386,351 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.