Which to use
“thing” and “thon” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,088
- “thing” frequency rank
- #42,867
- “thon” frequency rank
- 60955
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | thing | thon |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ein materielles Objekt, ohne Bewusstsein | Zeiteinheit, Dauer von zwölf Monaten; Jahr |
Where the eye mixes thing and thon
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: thing vs thon
A purely visual mix-up. thing ([θɪŋ]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60955, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
thing is recorded at frequency rank #18,088, classified as anoun, pronounced [θɪŋ]. 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 60955, this pair ranks #767,703 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of thing vs thon
Shared letters: hnt. Private to "thing": gi. Private to "thon": o.
"thing" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "thon" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "thing" and "thon" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "thing" or "thon" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "thing" and "thon" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "thing" 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 #767,703 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "thing" 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 #767,703 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.