Which to use
“blinks” and “brink” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,310
- “blinks” frequency rank
- #14,709
- “brink” frequency rank
- 53019
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | blinks | brink |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | a herbaceous annual plant of species Montia fontana, in the family Montiaceae, formerly included in the purslane family (Portulacaceae). | The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge. |
Where the eye mixes blinks and brink
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: blinks vs brink
A purely visual mix-up. blinks (/blɪŋks/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53019, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
blinks is recorded at frequency rank #38,310, classified as anoun, pronounced /blɪŋks/. 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 53019, this pair ranks #152,338 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of blinks vs brink
Shared letters: bikn. Private to "blinks": ls. Private to "brink": r.
"blinks" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC · "brink" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "blinks" and "brink" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "blinks" vs "brink" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "blinks" 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 #152,338 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "blinks" and "brink" 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 #152,338 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.