cincvszincWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“cinc” and “zinc” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#45,815
“cinc” frequency rank
#17,322
“zinc” frequency rank
63137
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cinc zinc
Definition Grafía alternativa de zinc. Elemento químico de número atómico 30 y símbolo Zn situado en el grupo 12 de la tabla periódica de los elementos. El zinc es un metal, a veces clasificado como metal de transición continua aunque estrictamente no lo sea, que presenta cierto parecido con el magnesio y el berilio además de con los elementos de su grupo. Este elemento es poco abundante en la corteza terrestre pero se obtiene con facilidad. Una de sus aplicaciones más importantes es el galvanizado del acero. Es un elemento químico esencial.

Same sound, different letters: cinc vs zinc

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters. cinc and zinc follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
cinc
4 ch
zinc

Same sound, different spelling - cinc / zinc

This is the hard kind. cinc and zinc are pronounced identically ([ˈsĩŋk]) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by a single letter - c in “cinc” becomes z in “zinc”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63137, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cinc is recorded at frequency rank #45,815, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈsĩŋk]. zinc is at rank #17,322, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈsĩŋk].

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 63137, this pair ranks #49,723 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cinc vs zinc

Shared letters: cin. Private to "cinc": -. Private to "zinc": z.

"cinc" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "zinc" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cinc ← ccinc · cicn · cincc · cinnc · cnic · icnc · sinc
  • zinc ← iznc · zicn · zincc · zinnc · znic · zzinc

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cinc" for "zinc" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same ([ˈsĩŋk]), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "cinc" vs "zinc" - which ranks higher?
"zinc" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,322 in our Spanish list, against #45,815 for "cinc". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've separated the homophone pair "cinc" / "zinc". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cinc" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "zinc" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #49,723 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cinc" and "zinc" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cinc vs cuc". 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 #49,723 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list