thusvstipsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: thus is a adverb, tips is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“thus” is an adverb and “tips” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,323
“thus” frequency rank
#2,601
“tips” frequency rank
3924
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature thus tips
Definition In this way or manner. plural of tip

Where the eye mixes thus and tips

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
thus
4 ch
tips

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: thus is /ˈðʌs/ while tips is /tɪps/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3924, 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/. tips is at rank #2,601, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɪps/.

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 3924, this pair ranks #520,561 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of thus vs tips

Shared letters: st. Private to "thus": hu. Private to "tips": ip.

"thus" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "tips" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • thushtus · thhus · thsu · thuss · tthus · tuhs
  • tipsitps · tipps · tipss · tisp · tpis · ttips

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "thus" and "tips" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "thus" is an adverb and "tips" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "thus" or "tips"?
"thus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,323 in our English list, against #2,601 for "tips". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list