Which to use
“things” and “thong” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #179
- “things” frequency rank
- #23,701
- “thong” frequency rank
- 23880
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | things | thong |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of thing | A narrow strip of material, typically leather, used to fasten, bind, or secure objects. |
Where the eye mixes things and thong
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: things vs thong
A purely visual mix-up. things (/ˈθɪŋz/) and thong (/θɒŋ/) 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 23880, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
things is recorded at frequency rank #179, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈθɪŋz/. thong is at rank #23,701, tagged as anoun, pronounced /θɒŋ/.
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 23880, this pair ranks #406,069 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of things vs thong
Shared letters: ghnt. Private to "things": is. Private to "thong": o.
"things" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC · "thong" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "things" for "thong" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "things" or "thong" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "things" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "thong" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #406,069 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "things" and "thong" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thong vs twang". 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 #406,069 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.