TanavstinkWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Tana is a name, tink is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Tana” is a name and “tink” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,369
“Tana” frequency rank
#40,928
“tink” frequency rank
77297
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Tana tink
Definition Nickname for Antananarivo: the capital and largest city of Madagascar. To emit a high-pitched sharp or metallic noise.

Letter map: Tana vs tink

Shared letters muted; letters that set Tana and tink apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. Tana (CVCV) and tink (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
Tana
4 ch
tink

Role in the sentence - Tana and tink

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Tana is aname and tinkaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77297, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Tana is recorded at frequency rank #36,369, classified as aname. tink is at rank #40,928, tagged as averb, pronounced /tɪŋk/.

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 77297, this pair ranks #27,678 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Tana vs tink

Shared letters: nt. Private to "Tana": a. Private to "tink": ik.

"Tana" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "tink" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Tana ← atna · taan · tanna · tnaa · ttana
  • tink ← itnk · tikn · tinkk · tinnk · tnik · ttink

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Tana" for "tink" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Tana" is a name and "tink" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Tana" vs "tink" - which ranks higher?
"Tana" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,369 in our English list, against #40,928 for "tink". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Tana" and "tink".

  • Full dictionary entry for "Tana" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tink" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #27,678 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Tana" and "tink" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tik vs tink". 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 #27,678 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list