tesvsthyWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: tes is a noun, thy is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tes” is a noun and “thy” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,969
“tes” frequency rank
#47,049
“thy” frequency rank
92018
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tes thy
Definition Plural des Substantivs te dein

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tes and thy apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
tes
3 ch
thy

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tes is [tɛs] while thy is [ðaɪ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 92018, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tes is recorded at frequency rank #44,969, classified as anoun, pronounced [tɛs]. thy is at rank #47,049, tagged as apron, pronounced [ðaɪ].

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 92018, this pair ranks #33,112 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tes vs thy

Shared letters: t. Private to "tes": es. Private to "thy": hy.

"tes" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "thy" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequency comparison

tes#44,969
thy#47,049

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tes" and "thy" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tes" is a noun and "thy" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tes" or "thy"?
"tes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,969 in our German list, against #47,049 for "thy". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering tes vs thy

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “tes”; for a pronoun, it's “thy”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tes” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list