Which to use
“chink” and “chins” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,376
- “chink” frequency rank
- #42,057
- “chins” frequency rank
- 88433
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chink | chins |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A narrow opening such as a fissure or crack. | plural of chin |
Where the eye mixes chink and chins
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. chink and chins follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between chink and chins
A purely visual mix-up. chink (/t͡ʃɪŋk/) and chins (/t͡ʃɪnz/) 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 a single letter - k in “chink” becomes s in “chins”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 88433, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chink is recorded at frequency rank #46,376, classified as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃɪŋk/. chins is at rank #42,057, tagged as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃɪnz/.
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 88433, this pair ranks #6,356 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of chink vs chins
Shared letters: chin. Private to "chink": k. Private to "chins": s.
"chink" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "chins" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chink" and "chins" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "chink" vs "chins" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "chink" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #6,356 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chink" and "chins" 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 #6,356 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.