Spanish Words That Start With K (30 Common Ones)
🇪🇸 Spanish · 30 cards · A2 · by Lucía Herrera
K is the rarest letter in Spanish, so nearly everything here is a loanword: measurements (kilo, kilovatio), food (kiwi, kebab, kéfir), sports (karate, kayak, kart) and a few adjectives (kilométrico, kafkiano, kitsch). Two things trip up my students. First, the spelling doublets: kiosco/quiosco, kimono/quimono, keroseno/queroseno, kétchup/cátsup — both forms are correct, and which one looks normal depends on where you are. Second, there is no everyday verb that starts with K, so don't go hunting for one; you say hacer karate, ir en kayak, cantar en el karaoke. Learn the shopping and food words at the top first. The adjectives at the end are the ones that make you sound well read.
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All 30 cards
| # | Spanish | English | Example | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | kilo Masculine: el kilo. Short form of kilogramo and the normal word in speech. | kilo, kilogram | Me pones un kilo de tomates, por favor. A kilo of tomatoes, please. | |
| 2 | kilómetro Masculine. Abbreviated km, with no period and no plural -s. | kilometre | Vivo a dos kilómetros del centro. I live two kilometres from the centre. | |
| 3 | kilogramo Masculine. Sounds technical or formal; in shops and kitchens people say kilo. | kilogram | El paquete pesa exactamente un kilogramo. The parcel weighs exactly one kilogram. | |
| 4 | kiwi Masculine. Also the bird, but the fruit is the everyday meaning. | kiwi (fruit) | Desayuno un kiwi y un café. I have a kiwi and a coffee for breakfast. | |
| 5 | kiosco Masculine. Also spelled quiosco, the form the RAE lists first; both are correct. | newsstand, kiosk | Compré el periódico en el kiosco de la esquina. I bought the paper at the kiosk on the corner. | |
| 6 | kétchup Masculine. In Mexico the bottle usually says cátsup; catchup also exists. | ketchup | ¿Le pongo kétchup a las papas? Shall I put ketchup on the fries? | |
| 7 | karate Masculine. The verb is hacer karate, not 'jugar'. Written and stressed kárate in Spain, karate in most of Latin America. | karate | Mi hijo hace karate los martes. My son does karate on Tuesdays. | |
| 8 | koala Masculine: el koala, even for a female animal. | koala | El koala duerme casi todo el día. The koala sleeps almost all day. | |
| 9 | kayak Masculine. Plural kayaks. The sport is el kayak or, in Spain, piragüismo. | kayak | Alquilamos un kayak para el domingo. We rented a kayak for Sunday. | |
| 10 | karaoke Masculine; refers to both the activity and the venue. | karaoke | Terminamos la noche en un karaoke. We ended the night at a karaoke bar. | |
| 11 | kínder Masculine. Mexico and much of Latin America, from kindergarten. In Spain people say infantil or guardería. | kindergarten, preschool | Mi sobrina ya va al kínder. My niece already goes to preschool. | |
| 12 | karma Masculine. Informal, usually in the joking sense of payback. | karma | Le llegó el karma muy rápido. Karma caught up with him really fast. | |
| 13 | kit Masculine. Plural kits. In Spain a first-aid kit is more often un botiquín. | kit, set | Lleva un kit de primeros auxilios en el coche. He keeps a first-aid kit in the car. | |
| 14 | kebab Masculine. Very common in Spain, where el kebab can also mean the shop itself. Also spelled kebap. | kebab | Cenamos un kebab de camino a casa. We had a kebab on the way home. | |
| 15 | kilovatio Masculine. Bills are measured in kilovatios hora (kWh). | kilowatt | El aire acondicionado consume muchos kilovatios. The air conditioning uses a lot of kilowatts. | |
| 16 | kimono Masculine. The spelling quimono is also valid but rarer. | kimono | Se puso un kimono de seda. She put on a silk kimono. | |
| 17 | kermés Feminine: la kermés. Very common in Mexico; also written quermés. | fundraising fair, church fête | La escuela organiza una kermés el sábado. The school is holding a fundraising fair on Saturday. | |
| 18 | kilometraje Masculine. Used for vehicles and for the distance allowance in rental contracts. | mileage | Este coche tiene poco kilometraje. This car has low mileage. | |
| 19 | kilométrico Adjective; agrees in gender and number. Everyday exaggeration, not a measurement. In Spain you would say una cola kilométrica. | endless, miles long | Había una fila kilométrica en el banco. There was an endless queue at the bank. | |
| 20 | kafkiano Adjective: kafkiana, kafkianos, kafkianas. Slightly bookish but widely understood. | Kafkaesque, absurdly bureaucratic | El trámite del visado fue kafkiano. The visa paperwork was Kafkaesque. | |
| 21 | kósher Adjective, invariable: platos kósher. Also written kosher, without the accent. | kosher | Buscamos un restaurante kósher por aquí cerca. We're looking for a kosher restaurant nearby. | |
| 22 | keniano Adjective and noun; feminine keniana. Keniata is also correct and common in sports reporting. | Kenyan | El maratón lo ganó un corredor keniano. A Kenyan runner won the marathon. | |
| 23 | kurdo Adjective and noun; feminine kurda. El kurdo also names the language. | Kurdish; Kurd; Kurdish (language) | Tiene amigos kurdos en Alemania. He has Kurdish friends in Germany. | |
| 24 | kamikaze Invariable; noun or adjective. Informal; the everyday sense is 'recklessly dangerous'. | reckless, daredevil; kamikaze | Ese taxista conduce como un kamikaze. That taxi driver drives like a maniac. | |
| 25 | kitsch Adjective, invariable. Pronounced roughly 'kich'. | kitsch, tacky | La decoración del salón es bastante kitsch. The living-room decor is pretty kitsch. | |
| 26 | kéfir Masculine. Stress on the first syllable, hence the accent. | kefir | Tomo kéfir con fruta por la mañana. I have kefir with fruit in the morning. | |
| 27 | keroseno Masculine. Queroseno is the usual spelling in Spain; kerosén is heard in parts of Latin America. | kerosene, paraffin | Esa lámpara antigua funciona con keroseno. That old lamp runs on kerosene. | |
| 28 | kung-fu Masculine. Also written kungfú or kung fu; stress falls on fu. | kung fu | De niño quería aprender kung-fu. As a kid I wanted to learn kung fu. | |
| 29 | kart Masculine, plural karts. The sport and the track are el karting. | go-kart | Fuimos a montar en karts por su cumpleaños. We went go-karting for his birthday. | |
| 30 | karateca Same form for both genders: el karateca, la karateca. Karateka is also seen. | karate fighter, karateka | Su hermana es karateca profesional. Her sister is a professional karate fighter. |
Native Spanish speaker from Valencia, now in Mexico City. I tutor Spanish online and keep a notebook of the words my students trip over. Every deck here comes from that notebook.
Questions about this deck
- Are there any Spanish verbs that start with K?
- Not in normal use. The K words in Spanish are almost all borrowed nouns and adjectives, and borrowed verbs get respelled with c or qu (noquear, from 'knock out'). For K-related actions you use a phrase: hacer karate, ir en kayak, cantar en el karaoke, montar en kart.
- Why do some K words also have a spelling with qu or c?
- Because Spanish traditionally adapts foreign k to c or qu, which leaves accepted doublets: kiosco/quiosco, kimono/quimono, keroseno/queroseno, kermés/quermés, kétchup/cátsup. Both spellings are valid; the qu/c forms are more usual in Spain, the k forms in Latin America and in advertising or brand-style writing.
- How is the letter K pronounced in Spanish?
- Always as a hard /k/, like the c in 'cat', with no aspiration and never as an s. The letter is called 'ka'. It belongs to the Spanish alphabet but appears in only a small set of words, nearly all loanwords.
- Which K words should I learn first?
- kilo, kilómetro, kiwi, kiosco and kétchup come up daily when shopping or eating out. Next are karate, kayak, karaoke, kit and kebab, all frequent in conversation. Save kafkiano, kitsch and kilométrico for when you want to sound more expressive, and note that kínder and kermés are mainly Latin American.
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