Which to use
“things” and “thirds” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #179
- “things” frequency rank
- #8,218
- “thirds” frequency rank
- 8397
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | things | thirds |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of thing | plural of third |
Where the eye mixes things and thirds
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: things vs thirds
A purely visual mix-up. things (/ˈθɪŋz/) and thirds (/θɜːdz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8397, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
things is recorded at frequency rank #179, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈθɪŋz/. thirds is at rank #8,218, tagged as anoun, pronounced /θɜːdz/.
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 8397, this pair ranks #502,697 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of things vs thirds
Shared letters: hist. Private to "things": gn. Private to "thirds": dr.
"things" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC · "thirds" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "things" and "thirds" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "things" or "thirds"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "things" and "thirds" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "things" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "thirds" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #502,697 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "things" and "thirds" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thirds vs triads". 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 #502,697 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.