ko vs kr, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#9,864
“ko” frequency rank: #38,885
“kr” frequency rank: 48749
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ko	kr
Definition	Configuration cyclique de pions, si fréquente que des règles spécifiques la traitent.	Abréviation de couronne norvégienne (monnaie).

Where the eye mixes ko and kr

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch

Why the eye confuses ko with kr

A purely visual mix-up. ko (\ko\) and kr (/ˈkruvdnu/) 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 a single letter - o in “ko” becomes r in “kr”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48749, 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\. kr is at rank #38,885, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkruvdnu/.

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 48749, this pair ranks #176,318 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ko vs kr

Shared letters: k. Private to "ko": o. Private to "kr": r.

"ko" · 2 letters · shape CV · "kr" · 2 letters · shape CC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ko" and "kr" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No. They are said differently (\ko\ versus /ˈkruvdnu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "ko" or "kr"?

"ko" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,864 in our French list, against #38,885 for "kr". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "ko" and "kr" 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 "kr" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #176,318 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ko" and "kr" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kr vs ky". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #176,318 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.