dankvsdrunkWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#20,602
“dank” frequency rank
#2,439
“drunk” frequency rank
23041
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dank drunk
Definition Dark, damp and humid. Intoxicated as a result of excessive alcohol consumption, usually by drinking alcoholic beverages.

Where the eye mixes dank and drunk

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
dank
5 ch
drunk

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. dank (/ˈdæŋk/) and drunk (/dɹʌŋk/) 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 23041, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dank is recorded at frequency rank #20,602, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈdæŋk/. drunk is at rank #2,439, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dɹʌŋk/.

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 23041, this pair ranks #412,152 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dank vs drunk

Shared letters: dkn. Private to "dank": a. Private to "drunk": ru.

"dank" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "drunk" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dankadnk · dakn · dankk · dannk · ddank · dnak
  • drunkddrunk · drnuk · drrunk · drukn · drunkk · drunnk · durnk · rdunk

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dank" and "drunk" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈdæŋk/ versus /dɹʌŋk/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "dank" or "drunk"?
"drunk" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,439 in our English list, against #20,602 for "dank". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list