Which to use
“clinic” and “clink” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,015
- “clinic” frequency rank
- #45,847
- “clink” frequency rank
- 50862
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clinic | clink |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A medical facility, such as a hospital, especially one for the treatment and diagnosis of outpatients. | The sound of metal on metal, or glass on glass. |
Where the eye mixes clinic and clink
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. clinic runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against clink's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses clinic with clink
A purely visual mix-up. clinic (/ˈklɪn.ɪk/) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50862, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clinic is recorded at frequency rank #5,015, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈklɪn.ɪk/. 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 50862, this pair ranks #170,496 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of clinic vs clink
Shared letters: ciln. Private to "clinic": -. Private to "clink": k.
"clinic" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "clink" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "clinic" for "clink" ever safe?
Frequency check: "clinic" vs "clink" - 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 "clinic" 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 #170,496 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clinic" 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 #170,496 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.