Which to use
“thus” is an adverb and “tusk” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,323
- “thus” frequency rank
- #31,017
- “tusk” frequency rank
- 32340
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | thus | tusk |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | In this way or manner. | One of a pair of elongated pointed teeth that extend outside the mouth of an animal such as walrus, elephant or wild boar, and which continue to grow throughout the animal's life. |
Where the eye mixes thus and tusk
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. thus (CCVC) and tusk (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between thus and tusk
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: thus is /ˈðʌs/ while tusk is /ˈtʌsk/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 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 32340, 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/. tusk is at rank #31,017, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtʌsk/.
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 32340, this pair ranks #338,605 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of thus vs tusk
Shared letters: stu. Private to "thus": h. Private to "tusk": k.
"thus" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "tusk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "thus" and "tusk" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "thus" or "tusk" 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 "tusk" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #338,605 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "thus" and "tusk" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tuft vs tusk". 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 #338,605 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.