Which to use
“think” and “thunk” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #89
- “think” frequency rank
- #47,382
- “thunk” frequency rank
- 47471
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | think | thunk |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To ponder, to go over in one's mind. | past participle of think |
Where the eye mixes think and thunk
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses think with thunk
A purely visual mix-up. think (/ˈθɪŋk/) and thunk (/θʌŋk/) 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 - i in “think” becomes u in “thunk”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47471, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
think is recorded at frequency rank #89, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈθɪŋk/. thunk is at rank #47,382, tagged as averb, pronounced /θʌŋk/.
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 47471, this pair ranks #202,119 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of think vs thunk
Shared letters: hknt. Private to "think": i. Private to "thunk": u.
"think" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "thunk" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "think" for "thunk" ever safe?
Which is more common, "think" or "thunk"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "think" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "thunk" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #202,119 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "think" and "thunk" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Thun vs thunk". 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 #202,119 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.