Which to use
“chime” and “chink” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,111
- “chime” frequency rank
- #46,376
- “chink” frequency rank
- 70487
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chime | chink |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A musical instrument producing a sound when struck, similar to a bell (e.g. a tubular metal bar) or actually a bell. Often used in the plural to refer to the set: the chimes. | A narrow opening such as a fissure or crack. |
Where the eye mixes chime and chink
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. chime (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 chime with chink
A purely visual mix-up. chime (/tʃaɪm/) 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 70487, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chime is recorded at frequency rank #24,111, classified as anoun, pronounced /tʃaɪm/. 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 70487, this pair ranks #50,384 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of chime vs chink
Shared letters: chi. Private to "chime": em. Private to "chink": kn.
"chime" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "chink" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chime" and "chink" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "chime" vs "chink" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "chime" 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 #50,384 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chime" 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 #50,384 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.