Which to use
“sinks” and “sinus” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,701
- “sinks” frequency rank
- #20,225
- “sinus” frequency rank
- 35926
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sinks | sinus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of sink | A pouch or cavity in a bone or other tissue, especially one in the bones of the face or skull connecting with the nasal cavities (the paranasal sinus). |
Where the eye mixes sinks and sinus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between sinks and sinus
A purely visual mix-up. sinks (/sɪŋks/) and sinus (/ˈsaɪ.nəs/) 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 a single letter - k in “sinks” becomes u in “sinus”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35926, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sinks is recorded at frequency rank #15,701, classified as anoun, pronounced /sɪŋks/. sinus is at rank #20,225, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsaɪ.nəs/.
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 35926, this pair ranks #307,709 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sinks vs sinus
Shared letters: ins. Private to "sinks": k. Private to "sinus": u.
"sinks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "sinus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sinks" for "sinus" ever safe?
Frequency check: "sinks" vs "sinus" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "sinks" and "sinus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sinks" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sinus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #307,709 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sinks" and "sinus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "SIDS vs sinus". 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 #307,709 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.