Which to use
“shrunk” and “sunk” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,099
- “shrunk” frequency rank
- #10,617
- “sunk” frequency rank
- 33716
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shrunk | sunk |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of shrink | past participle of sink |
Where the eye mixes shrunk and sunk
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between shrunk and sunk
A purely visual mix-up. shrunk (/ʃɹʌŋk/) and sunk (/sʌŋk/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33716, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shrunk is recorded at frequency rank #23,099, classified as averb, pronounced /ʃɹʌŋk/. sunk is at rank #10,617, tagged as averb, pronounced /sʌŋk/.
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 33716, this pair ranks #327,004 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of shrunk vs sunk
Shared letters: knsu. Private to "shrunk": hr. Private to "sunk": -.
"shrunk" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC · "sunk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "shrunk" and "sunk" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "shrunk" vs "sunk" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "shrunk" and "sunk" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "shrunk" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sunk" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #327,004 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shrunk" and "sunk" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Shauna vs shrunk". 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 #327,004 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.