key

/kiː/

//kiː// adj

The verdict

“key” sits in 12 confusable pairs (corpus #10,384) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#10,384
frequency rank, Portuguese
95
“K” headwords
12
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - indispensável

Corpus desk

Index PT-key · key · Portuguese

key · rank #10,384 · 0 variants · 12 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #10,384
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 12 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 95
  • PHOTO-FINISH jurista

Nearest frequency peer: jurista (-4 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Vizinhos de frequência do confusável “key”

Pares de peso semelhante no corpus, aparte dos confusáveis abaixo

corpus weight

What this shows As barras situam “key” face aos lemas portugueses mais próximos por rank, não um reprint da secretária de confusáveis.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

key vs ki
33% similar
key vs ko
33% similar
key vs kia
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for key
PropertyValue
Headwordkey
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/kiː/
Letters3
Frequency rank#10,384
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs12
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rank de corpus junto a confusáveis de “key”

Da esquerda para a direita: o pouco que carrega a fala diária, depois a cauda longa quase invisível.keycai aqui:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

O eixo é logarítmico: cada tick marca cerca de dez vezes menos frequência. Na mesma faixa de raridade aparecem “jurista” (#10,380), “intolerância” (#10,378), “interrogatório” (#10,377). Entre 95 lemas com “K”, “key” fica em #10,384. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for key is neighbouring look-alikes ("ki", "ko", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced /kiː/. Frequency #10,384 among 95 “K” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for key, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable Portuguese rules. It also participates in 12 confusable-pair relationships, "ki", "ko", "kia", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct Portuguese form is key, spelled K-E-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    indispensável
  2. 2
    importante

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "key"?
"key" is spelled K-E-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /kiː/.
What does "key" mean?
As an adjective, "key" means: indispensável
What words are commonly confused with "key"?
"key" is commonly confused with "ki", "ko", "kia". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "key"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "key" is /kiː/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "key" come from?
"key" is a Portuguese word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Portuguese words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "key", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Portuguese headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list