kat vs ke, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#15,371
“kat” frequency rank: #18,370
“ke” frequency rank: 33741
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	kat	ke
Definition	gato (Felis sylvestris catus):	nome dos kana け e ケ

Where the eye mixes kat and ke

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

3 ch

kat

2 ch

Why the eye confuses kat with ke

A purely visual mix-up. kat (/ˈkɐt/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33741, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kat is recorded at frequency rank #15,371, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɐt/. 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 33741, this pair ranks #33,685 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kat vs ke

Shared letters: k. Private to "kat": at. Private to "ke": e.

"kat" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "ke" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "kat" for "ke" ever safe?

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

In ordinary Portuguese text, does "kat" or "ke" show up more?

"kat" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,371 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 "kat" 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 #33,685 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"kat" and "ke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kari vs kat". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #33,685 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.