Which to use
“ke” and “ki” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,370
- “ke” frequency rank
- #10,029
- “ki” frequency rank
- 28399
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ke | ki |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | nome dos kana け e ケ | cão (mamífero domesticado - Canis lupus familiaris) |
Where the eye mixes ke and ki
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. ke and ki follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses ke with ki
A purely visual mix-up. ke (/ˈke/) and ki (/ˈkiː/) 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 - e in “ke” becomes i in “ki”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28399, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ke is recorded at frequency rank #18,370, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈke/. ki is at rank #10,029, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkiː/.
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 28399, this pair ranks #40,416 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ke vs ki
Shared letters: k. Private to "ke": e. Private to "ki": i.
"ke" · 2 letters · shape CV · "ki" · 2 letters · shape CV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ke" and "ki" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "ke" vs "ki" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ki" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #40,416 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ke" and "ki" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "K7 vs ke". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #40,416 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.