thunk vs tink, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“thunk” and “tink” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#47,382
“thunk” frequency rank: #40,928
“tink” frequency rank: 88310
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	thunk	tink
Definition	past participle of think	To emit a high-pitched sharp or metallic noise.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set thunk and tink apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

thunk

4 ch

tink

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. thunk (/θʌŋk/) and tink (/tɪŋk/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 88310, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

thunk is recorded at frequency rank #47,382, classified as averb, pronounced /θʌŋk/. 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 88310, this pair ranks #6,513 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of thunk vs tink

Shared letters: knt. Private to "thunk": hu. Private to "tink": i.

"thunk" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "tink" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

thunk ← htunk · thhunk · thnuk · thukn · thunkk · thunnk · tthunk · tuhnk
tink ← itnk · tikn · tinkk · tinnk · tnik · ttink

Frequency comparison

thunk#47,382

tink#40,928

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "thunk" and "tink" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/θʌŋk/ versus /tɪŋk/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "thunk" or "tink"?

"tink" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,928 in our English list, against #47,382 for "thunk". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering thunk vs tink

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “thunk” entry
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