Which to use
“chink” and “cling” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,376
- “chink” frequency rank
- #15,130
- “cling” frequency rank
- 61506
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chink | cling |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A narrow opening such as a fissure or crack. | Fruit (especially peach) whose flesh adheres strongly to the pit. |
Where the eye mixes chink and cling
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between chink and cling
A purely visual mix-up. chink (/t͡ʃɪŋk/) and cling (/ˈklɪŋ/) 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 61506, 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/. cling is at rank #15,130, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈklɪŋ/.
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 61506, this pair ranks #93,849 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of chink vs cling
Shared letters: cin. Private to "chink": hk. Private to "cling": gl.
"chink" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "cling" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chink" and "cling" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "chink" or "cling"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "chink" and "cling" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "chink" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cling" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #93,849 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chink" and "cling" 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 #93,849 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.