ka vs ke, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ka” and “ke” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#11,901
“ka” frequency rank: #18,370
“ke” frequency rank: 30271
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ka	ke
Definition	nome dos kana か e カ	nome dos kana け e ケ

Where the eye mixes ka and ke

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

2 ch

Look-alike desk: ka vs ke

A purely visual mix-up. ka (/ˈka/) and ke (/ˈke/) 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 - a in “ka” becomes e in “ke”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30271, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ka is recorded at frequency rank #11,901, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈka/. ke is at rank #18,370, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈke/.

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 30271, this pair ranks #38,137 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ka vs ke

Shared letters: k. Private to "ka": a. Private to "ke": e.

"ka" · 2 letters · shape CV · "ke" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ka" and "ke" mean the same thing in a sentence?

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

Which is more common, "ka" or "ke"?

"ka" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,901 in our Portuguese list, against #18,370 for "ke". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

Full dictionary entry for "ka" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #38,137 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ka" and "ke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "K7 vs ke". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #38,137 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.