some kind of vs what

some kind of

det
  • Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see some, kind, of. 

  • A remarkable. 

  • a mediocre; a bare minimum; (denoting that something only barely fits a certain category, or is very mediocre in it) 

adv
  • Used as an intensifier of adjectives: remarkably 

what

det
  • Emphasises that something is noteworthy or remarkable in quality or degree, in either a good or bad way; may be used in combination with certain other determiners, especially 'a', less often 'some'. 

  • Any ... that; all ... that; whatever. 

  • Used to form exclamations. 

  • Which, especially which of an open-ended set of possibilities. 

  • Which; the ... that. 

intj
  • Indicating a guess or approximation, or a pause to try to recall information. 

  • An expression of surprise or disbelief. 

  • What! That’s amazing! 

  • What did you say? I beg your pardon? 

  • What do you want? An abrupt, usually unfriendly enquiry as to what a person desires. 

particle
  • Emphasizes the truth of an assertion made to contradict an evidently false assumption held by the listener. 

noun
  • Something that is addressed by what, as opposed to a person, addressed by who. 

  • The identity of a thing, as an answer to a question of what. 

adv
  • In what way; to what extent. 

  • Used before a prepositional phrase to emphasise that something is taken into consideration as a cause or reason; usually used in combination with 'with' (see what with), and much less commonly with other prepositions. 

pron
  • That which; those that; the thing(s) that. 

  • That; which; who. 

  • Anything that; all that; whatever. 

  • Which thing, event, circumstance, etc.: used in asking for the specification of an identity, quantity, quality, etc. 

How often have the words some kind of and what occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )