thingvstingWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: thing is a noun, ting is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“thing” is a noun and “ting” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#184
“thing” frequency rank
#17,977
“ting” frequency rank
18161
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature thing ting
Definition That which is considered to exist as a separate entity, object, quality or concept. Representing a high-pitched sharp sound like a small bell being struck.

Where the eye mixes thing and ting

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

5 ch
thing
4 ch
ting

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: thing is /ˈθɪŋ/ while ting is /tɪŋ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18161, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

thing is recorded at frequency rank #184, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈθɪŋ/. ting is at rank #17,977, tagged as anintj, pronounced /tɪŋ/.

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 18161, this pair ranks #446,750 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of thing vs ting

Shared letters: gint. Private to "thing": h. Private to "ting": -.

"thing" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "ting" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • thinghting · thhing · thign · thingg · thinng · thnig · tihng · tthing
  • tingitng · tign · tingg · tinng · tnig · tting

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "thing" and "ting" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "thing" is a noun and "ting" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "thing" or "ting"?
"thing" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #184 in our English list, against #17,977 for "ting". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list