clink
/klɪŋk/
"clink" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“clink” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #45,847. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #45,847
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The sound of metal on metal, or glass on glass.
Corpus desk
Index EN-clink · clink · English
clink · rank #45,847 · 8 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #45,847
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 8 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH classless
Nearest frequency peer: classless (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “clink”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- Chua
Chua
54,158 corpus weight
- clamor
clamor
54,156 corpus weight
- classless
classless
54,155 corpus weight
- clink
clink
54,154 corpus weight
- cloaking
cloaking
54,153 corpus weight
- Coelho
Coelho
54,151 corpus weight
What this shows “clink” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | clink |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /klɪŋk/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #45,847 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “clink”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 8 spelling variants around clink (IPA /klɪŋk/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #45,847 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for clink, with forms such as "cclink", "cilnk", and "clikn". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "clip", "coin", "clit", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English clinken, from Old English *clincan (compare clynnan, clynian (“to sound; resound”)), from Proto-Germanic *klinganą (“to sound”). Cognates include Middle Dutch klinken and German klingen. Related to cling (sound) and clang. May be further… The correct English form is clink, spelled C-L-I-N-K.
Definition
- 1The sound of metal on metal, or glass on glass.
- 2Stress cracks produced in metal ingots as they cool after being cast.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how clink appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
You could hear the clink of the glasses from the next room.
1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life Chapter V When Frere had come down, an hour before, the prisoners were all snugly between their blankets. They were not so now; though, at the first clink of the bolts, they would be back again in their old positions, to all appearances sound asleep.
Etymology
From Middle English clinken, from Old English *clincan (compare clynnan, clynian (“to sound; resound”)), from Proto-Germanic *klinganą (“to sound”). Cognates include Middle Dutch klinken and German klingen. Related to cling (sound) and clang. May be further related to call. Perhaps of onomatopoeic origin, as metal against metal.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- cclink
- cilnk
- clikn
- clinkk
- clinnk
- cllink
- clnik
- lcink
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of clink - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "clink", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).