Which to use
“fins” is an adjective and “flint” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,196
- “fins” frequency rank
- #34,540
- “flint” frequency rank
- 37736
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fins | flint |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de fin. | Verre en cristal servant avec le crown-glass à faire les lentilles achromatiques des microscopes ; il est constitué par trois atomes de quadrisilicate de plomb et deux atomes de quadrisilicate de potasse. |
Where the eye mixes fins and flint
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: fins vs flint
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fins is \fɛ̃\ while flint is \flint\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37736, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fins is recorded at frequency rank #3,196, classified as anadj, pronounced \fɛ̃\. flint is at rank #34,540, tagged as anoun, pronounced \flint\.
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 37736, this pair ranks #260,291 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fins vs flint
Shared letters: fin. Private to "fins": s. Private to "flint": lt.
"fins" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "flint" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fins" for "flint" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fins" vs "flint" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "fins" and "flint" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fins" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "flint" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #260,291 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fins" and "flint" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flint vs foins". 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 #260,291 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.