Which to use
“ko” and “kong” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,864
- “ko” frequency rank
- #5,357
- “kong” frequency rank
- 15221
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ko | kong |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Configuration cyclique de pions, si fréquente que des règles spécifiques la traitent. | Carré de quatre tuiles identiques. |
Where the eye mixes ko and kong
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: ko vs kong
A purely visual mix-up. ko (\ko\) and kong (\kɔ̃g\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “ko” sits inside “kong”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15221, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ko is recorded at frequency rank #9,864, classified as anoun, pronounced \ko\. kong is at rank #5,357, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃g\.
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 15221, this pair ranks #393,305 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ko vs kong
Shared letters: ko. Private to "ko": -. Private to "kong": gn.
"ko" · 2 letters · shape CV · "kong" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- kong ← kkong · knog · kogn · kongg · konng · okng
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ko" and "kong" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "ko" or "kong"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "ko" and "kong" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ko" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "kong" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #393,305 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ko" and "kong" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ko 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 #393,305 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.