binvsbrinkWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“bin” and “brink” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,920
“bin” frequency rank
#14,709
“brink” frequency rank
19629
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bin brink
Definition A box, frame, crib, or enclosed place, used as a storage container. The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge.

Where the eye mixes bin and brink

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

3 ch
bin
5 ch
brink

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. bin (/bɪn/) and brink (/bɹɪŋk/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19629, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bin is recorded at frequency rank #4,920, classified as anoun, pronounced /bɪn/. brink is at rank #14,709, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bɹɪŋk/.

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 19629, this pair ranks #436,833 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bin vs brink

Shared letters: bin. Private to "bin": -. Private to "brink": kr.

"bin" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "brink" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • brinkbbrink · birnk · brikn · brinkk · brinnk · brnik · brrink · rbink

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bin" and "brink" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/bɪn/ versus /bɹɪŋk/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bin" or "brink"?
"bin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,920 in our English list, against #14,709 for "brink". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "bin" and "brink". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "brink" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #436,833 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bin" and "brink" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "brink vs Bruni". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list