Which to use
“they” and “thy” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,818
- “they” frequency rank
- #47,049
- “thy” frequency rank
- 56867
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | they | thy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sie | dein |
Where the eye mixes they and thy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses they with thy
A purely visual mix-up. they ([ðeɪ]) and thy ([ðaɪ]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56867, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
they is recorded at frequency rank #9,818, classified as apron, pronounced [ðeɪ]. 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 56867, this pair ranks #923,626 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of they vs thy
Shared letters: hty. Private to "they": e. Private to "thy": -.
"they" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "thy" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- they ← htey · tehy · theyy · thhey · thye · tthey
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "they" for "thy" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "they" or "thy" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "they" and "thy" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "they" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "thy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #923,626 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "they" and "thy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thy vs TSE". 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 #923,626 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.