Which to use
“chink” is a noun and “Clint” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,376
- “chink” frequency rank
- #14,296
- “Clint” frequency rank
- 60672
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chink | Clint |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A narrow opening such as a fissure or crack. | A male given name. |
Where the eye mixes chink and Clint
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses chink with Clint
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: chink is /t͡ʃɪŋk/ while Clint is /klɪnt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60672, 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/. Clint is at rank #14,296, tagged as aname, pronounced /klɪnt/.
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 60672, this pair ranks #98,818 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of chink vs Clint
Shared letters: cin. Private to "chink": hk. Private to "Clint": lt.
"chink" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "Clint" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chink" for "Clint" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "chink" or "Clint" show up more?
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 "Clint" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #98,818 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chink" and "Clint" 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 #98,818 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.