Which to use
“thing” and “tying” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #184
- “thing” frequency rank
- #11,629
- “tying” frequency rank
- 11813
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | thing | tying |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | That which is considered to exist as a separate entity, object, quality or concept. | Action of the verb to tie; ligature. |
Where the eye mixes thing and tying
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses thing with tying
A purely visual mix-up. thing (/ˈθɪŋ/) and tying (/ˈtaɪ.ɪŋ/) 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 a single letter - h in “thing” becomes y in “tying”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11813, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
thing is recorded at frequency rank #184, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈθɪŋ/. tying is at rank #11,629, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtaɪ.ɪŋ/.
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 11813, this pair ranks #484,992 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of thing vs tying
Shared letters: gint. Private to "thing": h. Private to "tying": y.
"thing" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "tying" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "thing" for "tying" ever safe?
Frequency check: "thing" vs "tying" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "thing" and "tying" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "thing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tying" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #484,992 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "thing" and "tying" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "twang vs tying". 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 #484,992 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.