Which to use
“Thames” is a name and “thymus” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,780
- “Thames” frequency rank
- #48,528
- “thymus” frequency rank
- 59308
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Thames | thymus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A river in southern England, flowing 336 km (209 mi.) from Gloucestershire, through Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey and Greater London, and between Essex and Kent to the Thames Estuary and North Sea. | Ellipsis of thymus gland (“A ductless gland, consisting mainly of lymphatic tissue, located behind the top of the breastbone. It is most active during puberty, after which it shrinks in size. It plays an important role in the development of the immune system and produces lymphocytes.”). |
Where the eye mixes Thames and thymus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: Thames vs thymus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Thames is /tɛmz/ while thymus is /ˈθaɪ.məs/. 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 (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59308, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Thames is recorded at frequency rank #10,780, classified as aname, pronounced /tɛmz/. thymus is at rank #48,528, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈθaɪ.məs/.
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 59308, this pair ranks #107,064 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Thames vs thymus
Shared letters: hmst. Private to "Thames": ae. Private to "thymus": uy.
"Thames" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "thymus" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Thames" and "thymus" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "Thames" or "thymus"?
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 "Thames" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "thymus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #107,064 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Thames" and "thymus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thyme vs thymus". 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 #107,064 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.