Which to use
“thunk” is a verb and “thus” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #47,382
- “thunk” frequency rank
- #1,323
- “thus” frequency rank
- 48705
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | thunk | thus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | past participle of think | In this way or manner. |
Where the eye mixes thunk and thus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses thunk with thus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: thunk is /θʌŋk/ while thus is /ˈðʌs/. 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 (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48705, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
thunk is recorded at frequency rank #47,382, classified as averb, pronounced /θʌŋk/. thus is at rank #1,323, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈðʌs/.
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 48705, this pair ranks #190,534 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of thunk vs thus
Shared letters: htu. Private to "thunk": kn. Private to "thus": s.
"thunk" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "thus" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "thunk" for "thus" ever safe?
Which is more common, "thunk" or "thus"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "thunk" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "thus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #190,534 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "thunk" and "thus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Thun vs thunk". 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 #190,534 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.