Which to use
“thin” is an adjective and “til” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,623
- “thin” frequency rank
- #14,951
- “til” frequency rank
- 60574
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | thin | til |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | von geringer Dicke | überdeckender Flechtenbewuchs auf einem Stein oder Felsen |
Where the eye mixes thin and til
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between thin and til
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: thin is [ˈθɪn] while til is [tiːl]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60574, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
thin is recorded at frequency rank #45,623, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈθɪn]. til is at rank #14,951, tagged as anoun, pronounced [tiːl].
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 60574, this pair ranks #781,910 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of thin vs til
Shared letters: it. Private to "thin": hn. Private to "til": l.
"thin" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "til" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- thin ← htin · thhin · thinn · thni · tihn · tthin
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "thin" for "til" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "thin" or "til" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "thin" and "til" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "thin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "til" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #781,910 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "thin" and "til" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thin vs tine". 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 #781,910 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.