fingvsflinkWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: fing is a verb, flink is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fing” is a verb and “flink” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,167
“fing” frequency rank
#33,588
“flink” frequency rank
38755
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fing flink
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs fangen schnell und behände; flott

Where the eye mixes fing and flink

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
fing
5 ch
flink

Visual trap between fing and flink

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fing is [fɪŋ] while flink is [flɪŋk]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38755, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fing is recorded at frequency rank #5,167, classified as averb, pronounced [fɪŋ]. flink is at rank #33,588, tagged as anadj, pronounced [flɪŋk].

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 38755, this pair ranks #1,555,477 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fing vs flink

Shared letters: fin. Private to "fing": g. Private to "flink": kl.

"fing" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "flink" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fingffing · fign · fingg · finng · fnig · ifng
  • flinkfflink · filnk · flikn · flinkk · flinnk · fllink · flnik · lfink

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fing" and "flink" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fing" is a verb and "flink" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "fing" vs "flink" - which ranks higher?
"fing" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,167 in our German list, against #33,588 for "flink". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "flink" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,555,477 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fing" and "flink" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flink vs Flinte". 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 #1,555,477 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list