Which to use
“sticky” and “stinky” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,673
- “sticky” frequency rank
- #24,916
- “stinky” frequency rank
- 34589
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sticky | stinky |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tending to stick; able to adhere via the drying of a viscous substance. | Having a strong, unpleasant smell; stinking. |
Where the eye mixes sticky and stinky
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. sticky and stinky follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between sticky and stinky
A purely visual mix-up. sticky (/ˈstɪki/) and stinky (/ˈstɪŋki/) 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 - c in “sticky” becomes n in “stinky”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34589, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sticky is recorded at frequency rank #9,673, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈstɪki/. stinky is at rank #24,916, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈstɪŋki/.
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 34589, this pair ranks #319,483 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sticky vs stinky
Shared letters: iksty. Private to "sticky": c. Private to "stinky": n.
"sticky" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "stinky" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sticky" and "stinky" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "sticky" or "stinky"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "sticky" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stinky" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #319,483 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sticky" and "stinky" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spiny vs stinky". 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 #319,483 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.