Which to use
“thy” is a pronoun and “tot” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #47,049
- “thy” frequency rank
- #1,525
- “tot” frequency rank
- 48574
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | thy | tot |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | dein | nicht (mehr) lebend |
Where the eye mixes thy and tot
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses thy with tot
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: thy is [ðaɪ] while tot is [toːt]. 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 48574, 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]. tot is at rank #1,525, tagged as anadj, pronounced [toːt].
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 48574, this pair ranks #1,243,454 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of thy vs tot
Shared letters: t. Private to "thy": hy. Private to "tot": o.
"thy" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "tot" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "thy" for "tot" ever safe?
Which is more common, "thy" or "tot"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "thy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,243,454 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "thy" and "tot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thy vs TSE". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,243,454 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.