Sound Gym
sinking · syncing · thinking
Sinking = syncing (exact homophones /ˈsɪŋ.kɪŋ/). Thinking sounds completely different — /θ/ not /s/.
Homophones
sinking and syncing are exact homophones — both /ˈsɪŋ.kɪŋ/. Context is the only way to tell them apart in speech.
thinking is different — it starts with the dental fricative /θ/ instead of the alveolar fricative /s/.
sinking
/ˈsɪŋ.kɪŋ/
starts /s/
syncing
/ˈsɪŋ.kɪŋ/
= sinking
thinking
/ˈθɪŋ.kɪŋ/
starts /θ/ ← different
verb — present participle of sink — going below the surface of water; OR feeling very low — 'the ship is sinking' · 'sinking feeling' · 'sinking funds' · 'sinking into the sofa' ⚠ speakers who replace /θ/ with /s/ will say 'sinking' when they mean 'thinking' — making all three words on this page sound identical
mouth shape
SIN-king — /s/ at the start: tongue tip behind upper teeth, no voice — short /ɪ/ vowel — then /ŋk/ cluster — identical to syncing
sinking
/ˈsɪŋ.kɪŋ/
vowel length
verb — present participle of sync (synchronise) — matching or updating data across devices — 'syncing your phone' · 'syncing contacts' · 'out of sync' — informal spelling of synchronising
mouth shape
SIN-king — exactly the same pronunciation as sinking — /ˈsɪŋ.kɪŋ/ — both start with /s/, share the short /ɪ/ and the /ŋk/ cluster
syncing
/ˈsɪŋ.kɪŋ/
vowel length
verb — present participle of think — using your mind to reason or consider — 'I am thinking' · 'thinking out loud' · 'wishful thinking' · 'critical thinking' · 'thinking cap'
mouth shape
THIN-king — /θ/ at the start: tongue TIP between teeth, blow air — NOT /s/ — same short /ɪ/ and /ŋk/ as the others, but the initial consonant is a dental fricative
thinking
/ˈθɪŋ.kɪŋ/
vowel length
Initial consonant spotlight — /s/ vs /θ/
sinking · syncing — /s/
sinking
/s/ — alveolar fricative
tongue tip behind upper teeth
no teeth contact — airstream through
thinking — /θ/
thinking
/θ/ — dental fricative
tongue TIP between teeth
you can feel teeth on tongue
How to produce /θ/ — the TH in thinking
Place the tip of your tongue lightly between your upper and lower front teeth, then blow air out. You’ll feel the teeth touching the tongue. This is /θ/ — the voiceless dental fricative. Many non-native speakers substitute /s/, /t/, or /f/, making thinking sound like sinking, tinking, or finking. All three are different words or non-words in English.
Why sinking = syncing matters
In speech, “my phone is sinking” and “my phone is syncing” are phonetically indistinguishable. Context determines meaning. Both are /ˈsɪŋ.kɪŋ/. This is how English works — many pairs of words share identical pronunciation.
Example sentences
sinking:“The Titanic began sinkingat 11:40 pm.”
syncing:“My phone has been syncingwith the cloud all morning.”
thinking:“I’ve been thinkingabout changing careers.”
thinking:“What were you thinking?! That was very dangerous.”
Hear it in a sentence
“The old wooden boat was sinking fast in the shallow harbour.”
“Her phone kept syncing its photos to the cloud in the background.”
“She paused before answering, clearly thinking through the implications carefully.”
Hear it in the wild
Real speech from native speakers — the most reliable way to check a pronunciation, since automated audio can vary by device and browser.
sinking
Hear native speakers say “sinking” in real sentences — news, lectures, and podcasts.
Opens YouTube-sourced clips in a new tab.
syncing
Hear native speakers say “syncing” in real sentences — news, lectures, and podcasts.
Opens YouTube-sourced clips in a new tab.
thinking
Hear native speakers say “thinking” in real sentences — news, lectures, and podcasts.
Opens YouTube-sourced clips in a new tab.
How teachers explain this
Approved tips from the community, sorted by helpfulness
Word families
sink / sinking family ▸
think / thinking family ▸
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