thonvsTopConfusable pair

Which to use

“thon” and “Top” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#42,867
“thon” frequency rank
#1,000
“Top” frequency rank
43867
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature thon Top
Definition Zeiteinheit, Dauer von zwölf Monaten; Jahr leichtes, meistens ärmelloses, körpernah geschnittenes Oberteil

Where the eye mixes thon and Top

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
thon
3 ch
Top

Look-alike desk: thon vs Top

A purely visual mix-up. thon ([tʰɔn]) and Top ([tɔp]) 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 43867, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

thon is recorded at frequency rank #42,867, classified as anoun, pronounced [tʰɔn]. Top is at rank #1,000, tagged as anoun, pronounced [tɔp].

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 43867, this pair ranks #1,404,418 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of thon vs Top

Shared letters: ot. Private to "thon": hn. Private to "Top": p.

"thon" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "Top" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • thonhton · thhon · thno · thonn · tohn · tthon

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "thon" for "Top" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([tʰɔn] versus [tɔp]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "thon" vs "Top" - which ranks higher?
"Top" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,000 in our German list, against #42,867 for "thon". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "thon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Top" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,404,418 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "thon" and "Top" 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 #1,404,418 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