bindsvsblinksWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#17,551
“binds” frequency rank
#38,310
“blinks” frequency rank
55861
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature binds blinks
Definition plural of bind a herbaceous annual plant of species Montia fontana, in the family Montiaceae, formerly included in the purslane family (Portulacaceae).

Where the eye mixes binds and blinks

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

5 ch
binds
6 ch
blinks

Why the eye confuses binds with blinks

A purely visual mix-up. binds (/baɪndz/) and blinks (/blɪŋks/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55861, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

binds is recorded at frequency rank #17,551, classified as anoun, pronounced /baɪndz/. blinks is at rank #38,310, tagged as anoun, pronounced /blɪŋks/.

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 55861, this pair ranks #130,414 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of binds vs blinks

Shared letters: bins. Private to "binds": d. Private to "blinks": kl.

"binds" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "blinks" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bindsbbinds · bidns · bindds · bindss · binnds · binsd · bnids · ibnds
  • blinksbblinks · bilnks · blikns · blinkks · blinkss · blinnks · blinsk · bllinks

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "binds" for "blinks" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/baɪndz/ versus /blɪŋks/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "binds" or "blinks"?
"binds" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,551 in our English list, against #38,310 for "blinks". 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 "binds" and "blinks" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "binds" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "blinks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #130,414 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "binds" and "blinks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "blinks vs bunks". 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 #130,414 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list