Which to use
“week” is a noun and “wink” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #251
- “week” frequency rank
- #15,085
- “wink” frequency rank
- 15336
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | week | wink |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Any period of seven consecutive days. | To close one's eyes in sleep. |
Where the eye mixes week and wink
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: week vs wink
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: week is /wiːk/ while wink is /ˈwɪŋk/. 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 15336, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
week is recorded at frequency rank #251, classified as anoun, pronounced /wiːk/. wink is at rank #15,085, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈwɪŋk/.
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 15336, this pair ranks #464,604 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of week vs wink
Shared letters: kw. Private to "week": e. Private to "wink": in.
"week" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "wink" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "week" and "wink" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "week" or "wink"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "week" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wink" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #464,604 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "week" and "wink" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wince vs wink". 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 #464,604 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.