CLINK

Meaning

The sound of metal on metal, or glass on glass.

“You could hear the clink of the glasses from the next room.”

• verbTo make a clinking sound; to make a sound of metal on metal or glass on glass; to strike materials such as metal or glass against one another.

CLINK as a word-puzzle answer

CLINK is a 5-letter word with 1 vowel (I) and 4 consonants (C, L, N, K). Every letter is distinct, so it rarely punishes a clean opening guess.

It leans on high-frequency letters (I, N), so a strong vowel-and-common-consonant opener tends to light up quickly. Watch for the less-common letter K — saving a guess to test it once the vowels are placed is usually the fastest route.

CLINK by the numbers

Across the 1,734 curated answers in the Wordocious bank, I appears in 29% of answers (the 6th most common letter), L appears in 26% of answers (the 8th most common letter), N appears in 24% of answers (the 9th most common letter). 19 other answers share the opening “CL-”, so two green tiles up front still leave real guessing to do.

Difficulty: 3/5 — moderate, because it uses at least one genuinely rare letter.

Near misses

One letter away in the answer bank: CLICK, BLINK, CLING. Each of these turns four tiles green against CLINK — the classic endgame squeeze where spending a guess on the differing letter beats burning attempts on hope.

Put it to use

Words like CLINK are exactly what the daily puzzles throw at you. Warm up in Practice, race the clock in the Daily Challenge, or study the best starting words before your next run. New to the multi-board modes? The mode guides cover all nine.