Which to use
“thy” is a pronoun and “tom” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #47,049
- “thy” frequency rank
- #2,521
- “tom” frequency rank
- 49570
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | thy | tom |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | dein | ohne Inhalt; leer |
Where the eye mixes thy and tom
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between thy and tom
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: thy is [ðaɪ] while tom is [tum]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49570, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
thy is recorded at frequency rank #47,049, classified as apron, pronounced [ðaɪ]. tom is at rank #2,521, tagged as anadj, pronounced [tum].
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 49570, this pair ranks #1,206,465 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of thy vs tom
Shared letters: t. Private to "thy": hy. Private to "tom": mo.
"thy" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "tom" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "thy" and "tom" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "thy" or "tom" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "thy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tom" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,206,465 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "thy" and "tom" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thy vs TSE". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,206,465 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.