Which to use
“thon” is a pronoun and “top” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,717
- “thon” frequency rank
- #244
- “top” frequency rank
- 34961
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | thon | top |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | they (singular). Gender-neutral third-person singular subject pronoun, coordinate with gendered pronouns he and she. | The highest or uppermost part of something. |
Where the eye mixes thon and top
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: thon vs top
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: thon is /ðʌn/ while top is /tɒp/. 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 (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34961, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
thon is recorded at frequency rank #34,717, classified as apron, pronounced /ðʌn/. top is at rank #244, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɒp/.
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 34961, this pair ranks #316,159 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of thon vs top
Shared letters: ot. Private to "thon": hn. Private to "top": p.
"thon" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "top" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- thon ← hton · thhon · thno · thonn · tohn · tthon
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "thon" for "top" ever safe?
Frequency check: "thon" vs "top" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "thon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "top" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #316,159 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "thon" and "top" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thon vs toh". 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 #316,159 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.