Which to use
“teak” is a noun and “tink” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,552
- “teak” frequency rank
- #40,928
- “tink” frequency rank
- 76480
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | teak | tink |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An extremely durable timber highly valued for shipbuilding and other purposes, yielded by Tectona grandis (and Tectona spp.). | To emit a high-pitched sharp or metallic noise. |
Where the eye mixes teak and tink
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses teak with tink
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: teak is /tiːk/ while tink is /tɪŋk/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76480, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
teak is recorded at frequency rank #35,552, classified as anoun, pronounced /tiːk/. 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 76480, this pair ranks #29,994 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of teak vs tink
Shared letters: kt. Private to "teak": ae. Private to "tink": in.
"teak" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "tink" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "teak" and "tink" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "teak" or "tink" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "teak" 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 #29,994 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "teak" 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 #29,994 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.