kiltvskiriWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#48,629
“kilt” frequency rank
#31,107
“kiri” frequency rank
79736
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kilt kiri
Definition Jupe courte fait traditionnellement de pure laine aux motifs colorés d’un tartan. Jugement, procès.

Where the eye mixes kilt and kiri

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. kilt (CVCC) and kiri (CVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
kilt
4 ch
kiri

Visual trap between kilt and kiri

A purely visual mix-up. kilt (\kilt\) and kiri (\kí.ri\) 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 79736, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kilt is recorded at frequency rank #48,629, classified as anoun, pronounced \kilt\. kiri is at rank #31,107, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kí.ri\.

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 79736, this pair ranks #22,632 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of kilt vs kiri

Shared letters: ik. Private to "kilt": lt. Private to "kiri": r.

"kilt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "kiri" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kilt ← iklt · killt · kiltt · kitl · kkilt · klit
  • kiri ← ikri · kiir · kirri · kkiri · krii

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "kilt" for "kiri" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kilt\ versus \kí.ri\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "kilt" or "kiri"?
"kiri" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,107 in our French list, against #48,629 for "kilt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kilt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kiri" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,632 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kilt" and "kiri" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kiko vs kilt". 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 #22,632 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