Which to use
“Than” and “thon” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,037
- “Than” frequency rank
- #42,867
- “thon” frequency rank
- 55904
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Than | thon |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Gefolgsmann des Königs oder eines Fürsten bei den Angelsachsen; seit dem 10. Jahrhundert erblicher Großgrundbesitzer | Zeiteinheit, Dauer von zwölf Monaten; Jahr |
Where the eye mixes Than and thon
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: Than vs thon
A purely visual mix-up. Than ([taːn]) and thon ([tʰɔn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - a in “Than” becomes o in “thon”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55904, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Than is recorded at frequency rank #13,037, classified as anoun, pronounced [taːn]. thon is at rank #42,867, tagged as anoun, pronounced [tʰɔn].
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 55904, this pair ranks #961,145 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Than vs thon
Shared letters: hnt. Private to "Than": a. Private to "thon": o.
"Than" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "thon" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Than" and "thon" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "Than" or "thon" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "Than" and "thon" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Than" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "thon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #961,145 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Than" and "thon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thon vs Tons". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #961,145 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.