tethervstitheConfusable pair

Which to use

“tether” and “tithe” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#30,619
“tether” frequency rank
#33,884
“tithe” frequency rank
64503
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tether tithe
Definition A rope, cable etc. that holds something in place whilst allowing some movement. A tenth.

Where the eye mixes tether and tithe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
tether
5 ch
tithe

Visual trap between tether and tithe

A purely visual mix-up. tether (/ˈtɛðə/) and tithe (/taɪð/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64503, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tether is recorded at frequency rank #30,619, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɛðə/. tithe is at rank #33,884, tagged as anoun, pronounced /taɪð/.

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 64503, this pair ranks #77,409 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tether vs tithe

Shared letters: eht. Private to "tether": r. Private to "tithe": i.

"tether" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "tithe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tethertehter · tetehr · tetherr · tethher · tethre · tetther · tteher · ttether
  • titheitthe · tihte · titeh · tithhe · titthe · ttihe · ttithe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tether" and "tithe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈtɛðə/ versus /taɪð/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "tether" or "tithe" show up more?
"tether" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,619 in our English list, against #33,884 for "tithe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "tether" and "tithe" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tether" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tithe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #77,409 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tether" and "tithe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tithe 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 #77,409 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list