Which to use
“kou” and “Ks” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,413
- “kou” frequency rank
- #38,387
- “Ks” frequency rank
- 85800
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | kou | Ks |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tambour chinois. | Variante orthographique de K’s. Pluriel de K. |
Where the eye mixes kou and Ks
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. kou runs 3 letters (CVV) against Ks's 2 (CC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: kou vs Ks
A purely visual mix-up. kou (\ku\) and Ks (\ˈkeɪz\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85800, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
kou is recorded at frequency rank #47,413, classified as anoun, pronounced \ku\. Ks is at rank #38,387, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈkeɪz\.
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 85800, this pair ranks #10,732 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of kou vs Ks
Shared letters: k. Private to "kou": ou. Private to "Ks": s.
"kou" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "Ks" · 2 letters · shape CC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "kou" and "Ks" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "kou" vs "Ks" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "kou" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Ks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #10,732 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "kou" and "Ks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kou vs ky". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #10,732 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.