Which to use
“clingy” is an adjective and “clink” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,577
- “clingy” frequency rank
- #45,847
- “clink” frequency rank
- 79424
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clingy | clink |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having a tendency to cling. | The sound of metal on metal, or glass on glass. |
Where the eye mixes clingy and clink
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. clingy runs 6 letters (CCVCCV) against clink's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between clingy and clink
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: clingy is /ˈklɪŋi/ while clink is /klɪŋk/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79424, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clingy is recorded at frequency rank #33,577, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈklɪŋi/. 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 79424, this pair ranks #22,113 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of clingy vs clink
Shared letters: ciln. Private to "clingy": gy. Private to "clink": k.
"clingy" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "clink" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "clingy" and "clink" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "clingy" or "clink"?
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 "clingy" 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 #22,113 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clingy" 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 #22,113 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.