thing

[θɪŋ]

/[θɪŋ]/ noun

The verdict

“thing” has 8 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #18,088. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#18,088
frequency rank, German
2,684
“T” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - ein materielles Objekt, ohne Bewusstsein

Corpus desk

Index DE-thing · thing · German

thing · rank #18,088 · 8 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #18,088
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,684
  • PHOTO-FINISH Thiel

Nearest frequency peer: Thiel (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „thing“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „thing“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im Edit-Distance-Chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

thing vs this
60% similar
thing vs Tina
40% similar
thing vs Thun
40% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for thing
PropertyValue
Headwordthing
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[θɪŋ]
Letters5
Frequency rank#18,088
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „thing“

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.thingliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „Thiel“ (#18,087), „Thrones“ (#18,089), „tieferen“ (#18,090). Unter 2,684 „T“-Lemmata liegt „thing“ bei #18,088. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around thing (IPA [θɪŋ]), anoun. Corpus frequency is #18,088 among 2,684 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for thing, with forms such as "hting", "thhing", and "thign". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "this", "Tina", "Thun", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is thing, spelled T-H-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    ein materielles Objekt, ohne Bewusstsein
  2. 2
    ein Wesen oder eine Existenz die nicht näher spezifiziert oder genau beschrieben werden kann
  3. 3
    eine Angelegenheit, Anliegen, Problem oder Faktor
  4. 4
    eine Handlung, Tat oder ein Verhalten
  5. 5
    was immer besessen werden kann, zum Beispiel Kleidung, Besitztümer oder Ausrüstung

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how thing appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. What are this things lying in your room good for?
  2. Oh see this small brown insect-like thing at the tree – I've never seen something like this before.

Synonyms

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • hting
  • thhing
  • thign
  • thingg
  • thinng
  • thnig
  • tihng
  • tthing

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of thing - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

hting2thhing1thign2thingg1thinng1thnig2tihng2tthing1
Edit distance from "thing"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "thing"?
"thing" is spelled T-H-I-N-G. The IPA pronunciation is [θɪŋ].
What does "thing" mean?
As a noun, "thing" means: ein materielles Objekt, ohne Bewusstsein
What words are commonly confused with "thing"?
"thing" is commonly confused with "this", "Tina", "Thun". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "thing"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "thing" is [θɪŋ]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "thing" come from?
"thing" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "thing", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list