Which to use
“stinks” is a noun and “stinky” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #22,827
- “stinks” frequency rank
- #24,916
- “stinky” frequency rank
- 47743
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stinks | stinky |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chemistry (as a subject taught in school). | Having a strong, unpleasant smell; stinking. |
Letter map: stinks vs stinky
Shared letters muted; letters that set stinks and stinky apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. stinks (CCVCCC) and stinky (CCVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Role in the sentence - stinks and stinky
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: stinks is anoun and stinkyanadjective. On the page they differ by a single letter - s in “stinks” becomes y in “stinky”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47743, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stinks is recorded at frequency rank #22,827, classified as anoun. 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 47743, this pair ranks #199,636 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of stinks vs stinky
Shared letters: iknst. Private to "stinks": -. Private to "stinky": y.
"stinks" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC · "stinky" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "stinks" and "stinky" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "stinks" or "stinky"?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "stinks" and "stinky".
- Full dictionary entry for "stinks" 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 #199,636 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stinks" 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 #199,636 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.