Which to use
“rink” and “ruin” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,019
- “rink” frequency rank
- #4,265
- “ruin” frequency rank
- 21284
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rink | ruin |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A man, especially a warrior or hero. | The remains of a destroyed or dilapidated construction, such as a house or castle. |
Where the eye mixes rink and ruin
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between rink and ruin
A purely visual mix-up. rink (/ɹɪŋk/) and ruin (/ˈɹuː.ɪn/) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21284, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rink is recorded at frequency rank #17,019, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪŋk/. ruin is at rank #4,265, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹuː.ɪn/.
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 21284, this pair ranks #424,998 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of rink vs ruin
Shared letters: inr. Private to "rink": k. Private to "ruin": u.
"rink" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "ruin" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "rink" and "ruin" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "rink" vs "ruin" - 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 "rink" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ruin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #424,998 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rink" and "ruin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rink vs Rong". 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 #424,998 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.