Another Name for Link: Connection, Tie, Bond and More

Link is a small word that does a great deal of work. A report talks about a link between diet and health. A website tells you to click this link. A jeweler repairs a broken link in a chain. A reporter says a company is linked to a deal. These are four quite different ideas, and a single replacement word will not fit all of them. If you are searching for another name for link, the first step is to decide which meaning you need. This guide sorts the main meanings and gives the best alternatives for each.

The main meanings of link

The dictionaries separate the word into a few senses.

• A connection between people, things or ideas. Cambridge Dictionary defines the noun as a connection between two people, things or ideas, and gives a direct link between diet and heart disease and diplomatic links between the two countries.
• A connection on the internet. Cambridge also lists a connection between documents on the internet, as in Click on this link to visit our online bookshop.
• One ring of a chain. Cambridge, Wiktionary and Dictionary.com all list this physical meaning: one of the rings or separate pieces that make up a chain.
• The verb. To link is to make a connection between two or more people, things or ideas, or to connect two objects or places.

Dictionary.com lists many more specialized senses, such as a unit in a communications system, a sausage in a string, a cuff link, and a unit of length in surveying. They matter in technical fields, but most readers searching for another name for link mean one of the four above.

Another name for link as a connection

When link means a connection between ideas or facts, these words are the closest.

Two of these need care. Association and correlation are cautious words. They say that two things appear together, and they do not say that one causes the other. If you write a link between X and Y in a report, you may mean either. Choosing association or correlation tells the reader you are making a smaller claim, and that precision is often valuable in academic writing. The academic vocabulary guide has more words of this kind.

Tie and bond are about people. Cambridge Dictionary's example, Despite living in different countries, the two families have maintained close links, would sound just as natural with ties. Bond is stronger and more personal than either.

Another name for link on the web

On a web page, a link is something you can click. Wiktionary lists the web meaning as an abbreviation of hyperlink, and Dictionary.com defines a link as an object, such as text or graphics, joined to another document through hypertext.

• Hyperlink: the full, slightly formal name. Click the hyperlink to go to the next page.
• Link: the everyday word, and the best choice for most readers.
• URL or web address: the address itself, not the clickable item. Paste the URL into your browser. Wiktionary notes that a hyperlink can also mean the address that defines where it goes, so the two words overlap in casual speech.
• Backlink: a link on another site that points to yours.
• Anchor text: the words you click on.

For most writing, link is already the correct plain word. Use hyperlink when you want to be formal or explicit, and URL or web address when you mean the address and not the clickable words.

Another name for link in a chain

For the physical meaning, the dictionaries describe the link as one ring or piece in a chain. Useful alternatives:

• ring: a closed loop, the rings of a chain.
• loop: any bent shape that closes on itself.
• segment or section: one part of something made of parts.
• element: a general word for a part of a series.

The figurative use is common: the weakest link. Wiktionary lists it as a figurative meaning, an individual person or element in a system. In that phrase link is part of a fixed expression, so replacing it makes the sentence unfamiliar. The guide to everyday idioms looks at expressions like this and why swapping their words usually does not work.

Another name for link as a verb

The verb link is a good place to vary your writing, because there are many close verbs.

Cambridge Dictionary includes the sentence The East River bridges link Manhattan to Queens and Brooklyn, where link means to connect two places. Join would also work there. Connect is the safest all-purpose replacement, and associate and relate suit ideas.

Pay attention to the prepositions. Link usually goes with to or with: linked to a theft, linked with a company. The verbs connect and join follow similar patterns. Associate takes with: associated with. Attach takes to. If prepositions cause you trouble, the guide to prepositions covers them.

Passive forms and the meaning of "linked"

In news writing, linked often appears in the passive: The man has been linked with the robbery. Here the verb suggests a possible connection, and it can sound careless if the evidence is weak. Replacing it with a more exact phrase makes the claim clearer: police believe the man was involved in the robbery, or the man is connected to the robbery through a shared address. Choose the word that matches what you know.

Choosing quickly

Practice set

Choose the best word: connection, tie, hyperlink, associate, correlation.

1. The two countries have strong cultural ______.
2. The report found a strong ______ between rainfall and crop size.
3. Click the ______ in the email to reset your password.
4. Many people ______ that smell with their grandmother's kitchen.
5. There is a clear ______ between regular practice and better scores.
6. Which word means a link seen in numbers without proof of cause: correlation or bond?

Answers: 1. ties (a link between countries). 2. correlation (a statistical link). 3. hyperlink (a web item). 4. associate (a link in the mind). 5. connection (a general link between ideas). 6. Correlation. Bond is an emotional link.

Making it stick

Make one card for each meaning, not one card for the whole word. Write the meaning, a better word, and a sentence: a link between ideas, connection, "There is a connection between sleep and memory." Review the cards over several days, as how spaced repetition works explains. Sorting a common word into its senses is one of the quickest ways to widen your vocabulary.

How Wordabulary fits in

Wordabulary finds your level with a placement assessment, then gives you practice and quizzes at that level. Seeing a word in several example sentences makes it easier to tell its meanings apart.