Theseus
/ˈθiːsjuːs/
"theseus" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Theseus” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #40,476 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #40,476
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A legendary Ancient Greek hero most famous for defeating the minotaur in the labyrinth of Crete.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Theseus |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈθiːsjuːs/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #40,476 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Theseus” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Theseus is 7 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈθiːsjuːs/. Corpus data places it at rank #40,476 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A legendary Ancient Greek hero most famous for defeating the minotaur in the labyrinth of Crete.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for Theseus, with forms such as "hteseus", "tehseus", and "theesus". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "thesis", "these", "theres", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Ancient Greek Θησεύς (Thēseús). His name comes from the same root as θεσμός (thesmós), Greek for “institution”. The correct English form is Theseus, spelled T-H-E-S-E-U-S.
Definition
- 1A legendary Ancient Greek hero most famous for defeating the minotaur in the labyrinth of Crete.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek Θησεύς (Thēseús). His name comes from the same root as θεσμός (thesmós), Greek for “institution”.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hteseus,tehseus,theesus,thesesu,theseuss,thesseus,thesues,thheseus,thseeus,ttheseus
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Theseus - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “Theseus”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-H-E-S-E-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈθiːsjuːs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “thesis” - see the side-by-side comparison. Theseus vs thesis
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.