Which to use
“tine” is a noun and “tink” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,530
- “tine” frequency rank
- #40,928
- “tink” frequency rank
- 85458
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tine | tink |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A spike or point on an implement or tool, especially a prong of a fork or a tooth of a comb. | To emit a high-pitched sharp or metallic noise. |
Where the eye mixes tine and tink
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tine (CVCV) and tink (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses tine with tink
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tine is /taɪn/ while tink is /tɪŋk/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “tine” becomes k in “tink”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85458, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tine is recorded at frequency rank #44,530, classified as anoun, pronounced /taɪn/. 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 85458, this pair ranks #10,367 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tine vs tink
Shared letters: int. Private to "tine": e. Private to "tink": k.
"tine" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "tink" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tine" and "tink" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "tine" or "tink" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "tine" 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 #10,367 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tine" and "tink" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tine vs tobe". 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 #10,367 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.