Which to use
“chimp” and “chink” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,731
- “chimp” frequency rank
- #46,376
- “chink” frequency rank
- 77107
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chimp | chink |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Clipping of chimpanzee. | A narrow opening such as a fissure or crack. |
Where the eye mixes chimp and chink
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. chimp and chink follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between chimp and chink
A purely visual mix-up. chimp (/t͡ʃɪmp/) 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 77107, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chimp is recorded at frequency rank #30,731, classified as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃɪmp/. 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 77107, this pair ranks #28,183 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of chimp vs chink
Shared letters: chi. Private to "chimp": mp. Private to "chink": kn.
"chimp" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "chink" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chimp" for "chink" ever safe?
Which is more common, "chimp" or "chink"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "chimp" and "chink" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "chimp" 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 #28,183 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chimp" 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 #28,183 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.