ThekevsThemseConfusable pair

Quick tell: Theke is a noun, Themse is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Theke” is a noun and “Themse” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,298
“Theke” frequency rank
#37,814
“Themse” frequency rank
54112
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Theke Themse
Definition Ort, wo Kunden bedient werden englischer Fluss, der durch London fließt

Where the eye mixes Theke and Themse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Theke runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against Themse's 6 (CCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Theke
6 ch
Themse

Look-alike desk: Theke vs Themse

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Theke is [ˈteːkə] while Themse is [ˈtɛmzə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54112, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Theke is recorded at frequency rank #16,298, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈteːkə]. Themse is at rank #37,814, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈtɛmzə].

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 54112, this pair ranks #1,031,622 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Theke vs Themse

Shared letters: eht. Private to "Theke": k. Private to "Themse": ms.

"Theke" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "Themse" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Theke ← hteke · tehke · theek · thekke · thheke · thkee · ttheke
  • Themse ← htemse · tehmse · themes · themmse · themsse · thesme · thhemse · thmese

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Theke" for "Themse" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Theke" is a noun and "Themse" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Theke" or "Themse"?
"Theke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,298 in our German list, against #37,814 for "Themse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "Theke" and "Themse" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Theke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Themse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,031,622 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Theke" and "Themse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Themse vs those". 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 #1,031,622 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list