Which to use
“chili” and “chink” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,663
- “chili” frequency rank
- #46,376
- “chink” frequency rank
- 57039
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chili | chink |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The pungent, spicy fresh or dried fruit of any of several cultivated varieties of capsicum peppers, used in cooking. | A narrow opening such as a fissure or crack. |
Where the eye mixes chili and chink
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. chili (CCVCV) and chink (CCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses chili with chink
A purely visual mix-up. chili (/ˈt͡ʃɪli/) and chink (/t͡ʃɪŋk/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57039, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chili is recorded at frequency rank #10,663, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈt͡ʃɪli/. 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 57039, this pair ranks #121,990 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of chili vs chink
Shared letters: chi. Private to "chili": l. Private to "chink": kn.
"chili" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "chink" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chili" and "chink" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "chili" vs "chink" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "chili" and "chink" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "chili" 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 #121,990 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chili" 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 #121,990 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.