ChiangvschinkWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Chiang is a name, chink is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Chiang” is a name and “chink” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,060
“Chiang” frequency rank
#46,376
“chink” frequency rank
66436
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Chiang chink
Definition A surname from Mandarin; variant form Jiang. A narrow opening such as a fissure or crack.

Letter map: Chiang vs chink

Shared letters muted; letters that set Chiang and chink apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. Chiang runs 6 letters (CCVVCC) against chink's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Chiang
5 ch
chink

Grammar separator: Chiang vs chink

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Chiang is aname and chinkanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66436, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Chiang is recorded at frequency rank #20,060, classified as aname. chink is at rank #46,376, tagged as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃɪŋk/.

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 66436, this pair ranks #67,989 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Chiang vs chink

Shared letters: chin. Private to "Chiang": ag. Private to "chink": k.

"Chiang" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC  ·  "chink" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Chiang ← cchiang · chaing · chhiang · chiagn · chiangg · chianng · chinag · cihang
  • chink ← cchink · chhink · chikn · chinkk · chinnk · chnik · cihnk · hcink

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Chiang" for "chink" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Chiang" is a name and "chink" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Chiang" vs "chink" - which ranks higher?
"Chiang" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,060 in our English list, against #46,376 for "chink". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Chiang" and "chink".

  • Full dictionary entry for "Chiang" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chink" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #67,989 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Chiang" and "chink" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chibi vs chink". 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 #67,989 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