Which to use
“tenth” is an adjective and “truth” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,097
- “tenth” frequency rank
- #960
- “truth” frequency rank
- 9057
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tenth | truth |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The ordinal numeral form of ten; next in order after that which is ninth. | True facts, genuine depiction or statements of reality. |
Where the eye mixes tenth and truth
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between tenth and truth
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tenth is /tɛnθ/ while truth is /tɹuːθ/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9057, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tenth is recorded at frequency rank #8,097, classified as anadj, pronounced /tɛnθ/. truth is at rank #960, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɹuːθ/.
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 9057, this pair ranks #499,305 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tenth vs truth
Shared letters: ht. Private to "tenth": en. Private to "truth": ru.
"tenth" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "truth" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tenth" for "truth" ever safe?
Which is more common, "tenth" or "truth"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "tenth" and "truth" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tenth" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "truth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #499,305 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tenth" and "truth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tenth vs Toth". 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 #499,305 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.