flinkvsflintConfusable pair

Quick tell: flink is a adjective, flint is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#33,588
“flink” frequency rank
#35,184
“flint” frequency rank
68772
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature flink flint
Definition schnell und behände; flott Flintglas

Where the eye mixes flink and flint

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
flink
5 ch
flint

Why the eye confuses flink with flint

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: flink is [flɪŋk] while flint is [flint]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - k in “flink” becomes t in “flint”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68772, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

flink is recorded at frequency rank #33,588, classified as anadj, pronounced [flɪŋk]. flint is at rank #35,184, tagged as anoun, pronounced [flint].

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 68772, this pair ranks #497,294 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of flink vs flint

Shared letters: filn. Private to "flink": k. Private to "flint": t.

"flink" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "flint" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • flinkfflink · filnk · flikn · flinkk · flinnk · fllink · flnik · lfink
  • flintfflint · filnt · flinnt · flintt · flitn · fllint · flnit · lfint

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "flink" for "flint" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "flink" is an adjective and "flint" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "flink" or "flint" show up more?
"flink" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,588 in our German list, against #35,184 for "flint". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "flink" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "flint" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #497,294 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "flink" and "flint" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fist vs flint". 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 #497,294 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