thisvstroisWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: this is a pronoun, trois is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“this” is a pronoun and “trois” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,559
“this” frequency rank
#44,292
“trois” frequency rank
46851
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature this trois
Definition in der Nähe drei

Where the eye mixes this and trois

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
this
5 ch
trois

Visual trap between this and trois

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: this is [ðɪs] while trois is [tʁwɑ]. 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 (pronoun vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46851, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

this is recorded at frequency rank #2,559, classified as apron, pronounced [ðɪs]. trois is at rank #44,292, tagged as anum, pronounced [tʁwɑ].

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 46851, this pair ranks #1,304,751 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of this vs trois

Shared letters: ist. Private to "this": h. Private to "trois": or.

"this" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "trois" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • thishtis · thhis · thiss · thsi · tihs · tthis
  • troisrtois · toris · troiss · trosi · trrois · ttrois

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "this" and "trois" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "this" is a pronoun and "trois" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "this" or "trois" show up more?
"this" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,559 in our German list, against #44,292 for "trois". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "this" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "trois" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,304,751 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "this" and "trois" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "trees vs trois". 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 #1,304,751 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