tenvsThunWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ten is a num, Thun is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ten” is a num and “Thun” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#959
“ten” frequency rank
#47,962
“Thun” frequency rank
48921
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ten Thun
Definition The number occurring after nine and before eleven, represented in Arabic numerals (base ten) as 10 and in Roman numerals as X. A city and municipality of Bern canton, Switzerland.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ten and Thun apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
ten
4 ch
Thun

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ten is anum and Thunaname. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48921, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ten is recorded at frequency rank #959, classified as anum, pronounced /tɛn/. Thun is at rank #47,962, tagged as aname.

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 48921, this pair ranks #188,519 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ten vs Thun

Shared letters: nt. Private to "ten": e. Private to "Thun": hu.

"ten" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Thun" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Thunhtun · thhun · thnu · thunn · tthun · tuhn

Frequency comparison

ten#959
Thun#47,962

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ten" and "Thun" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ten" is a num and "Thun" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ten" or "Thun"?
"ten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #959 in our English list, against #47,962 for "Thun". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering ten vs Thun

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a num, it's “ten”; for a name, it's “Thun”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ten” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list