pinkie vs pinky

Side by side

pinkie or pinky?

What is the difference between pinkie and pinky?

pinkie means "the finger farthest from the thumb". pinky means "the finger farthest from the thumb". They are pronounced identically — /ˈpɪŋki/ — so only the spelling and the meaning separate them.

Which is more common, pinkie or pinky?

pinky is the more common of the two — banded "Common" against "Familiar" for pinkie. Commonness is measured against a large corpus of everyday English, not judged.

Are pinkie and pinky pronounced the same?

Yes. Both are /ˈpɪŋki/, said PING-kee. Words that sound alike and are spelled differently are homophones, and they are the commonest source of written mix-ups in English.

Can pinkie and pinky be used in the same place in a sentence?

Both work as nouns, so they are grammatically interchangeable. That is exactly what makes the meaning difference worth checking.

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