Which to use
“stank” is a verb and “stinks” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,107
- “stank” frequency rank
- #22,827
- “stinks” frequency rank
- 61934
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stank | stinks |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past of stink | Chemistry (as a subject taught in school). |
Letter map: stank vs stinks
Shared letters muted; letters that set stank and stinks apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.
Part-of-speech tell for stank / stinks
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: stank is averb and stinksanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61934, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stank is recorded at frequency rank #39,107, classified as averb, pronounced /stæŋk/. stinks is at rank #22,827, tagged as anoun.
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 61934, this pair ranks #91,304 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of stank vs stinks
Shared letters: knst. Private to "stank": a. Private to "stinks": i.
"stank" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "stinks" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "stank" for "stinks" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "stank" or "stinks" show up more?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "stank" and "stinks".
- Full dictionary entry for "stank" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stinks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #91,304 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stank" and "stinks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stank vs staph". 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 #91,304 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.