Which to use
“thus” is an adverb and “thymus” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,323
- “thus” frequency rank
- #48,528
- “thymus” frequency rank
- 49851
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | thus | thymus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | In this way or manner. | Ellipsis of thymus gland (“A ductless gland, consisting mainly of lymphatic tissue, located behind the top of the breastbone. It is most active during puberty, after which it shrinks in size. It plays an important role in the development of the immune system and produces lymphocytes.”). |
Where the eye mixes thus and thymus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: thus vs thymus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: thus is /ˈðʌs/ while thymus is /ˈθaɪ.məs/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49851, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
thus is recorded at frequency rank #1,323, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈðʌs/. thymus is at rank #48,528, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈθaɪ.məs/.
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 49851, this pair ranks #179,692 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of thus vs thymus
Shared letters: hstu. Private to "thus": -. Private to "thymus": my.
"thus" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "thymus" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "thus" and "thymus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "thus" or "thymus" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "thus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "thymus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #179,692 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "thus" and "thymus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thyme vs thymus". 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 #179,692 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.