chinovsclinkConfusable pair

Which to use

“chino” and “clink” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#28,151
“chino” frequency rank
#45,847
“clink” frequency rank
73998
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chino clink
Definition A coarse cotton fabric commonly used to make trousers and uniforms. The sound of metal on metal, or glass on glass.

Where the eye mixes chino and clink

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. chino (CCVCV) and clink (CCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
chino
5 ch
clink

Visual trap between chino and clink

A purely visual mix-up. chino (/ˈtʃinoʊ/) and clink (/klɪŋk/) 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 73998, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chino is recorded at frequency rank #28,151, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtʃinoʊ/. clink is at rank #45,847, tagged as anoun, pronounced /klɪŋk/.

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 73998, this pair ranks #37,740 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of chino vs clink

Shared letters: cin. Private to "chino": ho. Private to "clink": kl.

"chino" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "clink" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chino ← cchino · chhino · chinno · chion · chnio · cihno · hcino
  • clink ← cclink · cilnk · clikn · clinkk · clinnk · cllink · clnik · lcink

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chino" and "clink" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈtʃinoʊ/ versus /klɪŋk/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "chino" or "clink"?
"chino" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,151 in our English list, against #45,847 for "clink". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "chino" and "clink" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chino" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clink" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #37,740 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chino" and "clink" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clack vs clink". 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 #37,740 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list