tyvsTypeWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: ty is a pronoun, Type is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ty” is a pronoun and “Type” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,332
“ty” frequency rank
#13,042
“Type” frequency rank
43374
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ty Type
Definition Dativ Singular des Personalpronomens ti „du“ einzelnes Element einer Schriftart

Where the eye mixes ty and Type

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

2 ch
ty
4 ch
Type

Why the eye confuses ty with Type

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ty is [ty] while Type is [ˈtyːpə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “ty” sits inside “Type”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43374, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ty is recorded at frequency rank #30,332, classified as apron, pronounced [ty]. Type is at rank #13,042, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈtyːpə].

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 43374, this pair ranks #1,420,131 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ty vs Type

Shared letters: ty. Private to "ty": -. Private to "Type": ep.

"ty" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "Type" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Typetpye · ttype · tyep · typpe · tyype · ytpe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ty" for "Type" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ty" is a pronoun and "Type" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "ty" or "Type" show up more?
"Type" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,042 in our German list, against #30,332 for "ty". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "ty" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Type" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,420,131 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ty" and "Type" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thy vs ty". 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 #1,420,131 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