thinkvstrinkTell them apart

Which to use

“think” and “trink” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#14,430
“think” frequency rank
#10,759
“trink” frequency rank
25189
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature think trink
Definition Verstandesarbeit leisten, denken 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs trinken

Where the eye mixes think and trink

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

5 ch
think
5 ch
trink

Why the eye confuses think with trink

A purely visual mix-up. think ([θɪŋk]) and trink ([tʁɪŋk]) 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 - h in “think” becomes r in “trink”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25189, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

think is recorded at frequency rank #14,430, classified as averb, pronounced [θɪŋk]. trink is at rank #10,759, tagged as averb, pronounced [tʁɪŋk].

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 25189, this pair ranks #1,836,878 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of think vs trink

Shared letters: iknt. Private to "think": h. Private to "trink": r.

"think" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "trink" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • thinkhtink · thhink · thikn · thinkk · thinnk · thnik · tihnk · tthink
  • trinkrtink · tirnk · trikn · trinkk · trinnk · trnik · trrink · ttrink

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "think" and "trink" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([θɪŋk] versus [tʁɪŋk]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "think" or "trink"?
"trink" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,759 in our German list, against #14,430 for "think". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "think" and "trink" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "think" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "trink" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,836,878 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "think" and "trink" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "think vs tine". 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 #1,836,878 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