Which to use
“king” and “kung” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,916
- “king” frequency rank
- #16,325
- “kung” frequency rank
- 20241
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | king | kung |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | rei | rei (monarca) |
Where the eye mixes king and kung
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. king and kung follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: king vs kung
A purely visual mix-up. king (/kɪŋ/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) and kung (/kɵŋ/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) 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 - i in “king” becomes u in “kung”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20241, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
king is recorded at frequency rank #3,916, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɪŋ/ ouvir^(fonte ?). kung is at rank #16,325, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɵŋ/ ouvir^(fonte ?).
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 20241, this pair ranks #50,318 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of king vs kung
Shared letters: gkn. Private to "king": i. Private to "kung": u.
"king" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "kung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "king" and "kung" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "king" or "kung"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "king" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "kung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #50,318 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "king" and "kung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kilo vs king". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #50,318 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.