thigh

Name: thigh, English Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

/θaɪ/

//θaɪ// noun

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed September 3, 2026

The verdict

“thigh” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #10,781. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#10,781
frequency rank, English: 3,151
“T” headwords: 8
tracked misspellings: 20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The upper leg of a human, between the hip and the knee.

Corpus desk

Index EN-thigh · thigh · English

thigh · rank #10,781 · 8 variants · 20 confusables

FREQ-MID #10,781
LEN-MID 5 letters
VOW-1 1 vowel
CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
VAR-MID 8 variants
BOOK-MID 3,151
PHOTO-FINISH Thames

Nearest frequency peer: Thames (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

taller

89,223
termination

89,222
Thames

89,221
thigh

89,220
thrive

89,219
troll

89,217

What this shows Bars show where “thigh” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

thigh vs tig

60% similar

thigh vs this

60% similar

thigh vs thin

60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for thigh
Property	Value
Headword	thigh
Language	English
Part of speech	Noun
IPA	/θaɪ/
Letters	5
Frequency rank	#10,781
Misspellings tracked	8
Confusable pairs	20
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “thigh” sits in English frequency

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).thighlands here:

#10,781

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “Thames” (#10,780), “thrive” (#10,782), “termination” (#10,779). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around thigh (IPA /θaɪ/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #10,781 among 3,151 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for thigh, with forms such as "htigh", "thgih", and "thhigh". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "tig", "this", "thin", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English thigh, thegh, thiȝ, theȝhe, þigh, þyȝh, from Old English þēoh, þīoh, from Proto-West Germanic *þeuh, from Proto-Germanic *þeuhą, from Proto-Indo-European *tewk-. See also West Frisian tsjea, Dutch dij, Middle High German diech, Icelandic… The correct English form is thigh, spelled T-H-I-G-H.

Definition

1
The upper leg of a human, between the hip and the knee.
2
That part of the leg of vertebrates (or sometimes other animals) which corresponds to the human thigh in position or function; the tibia of a horse, the tarsus of a bird; the third leg-section of an insect.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how thigh appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

I coniure thee by Rosalines bright eyes, By her High forehead, and her Scarlet lip, By her Fine foote, Straight leg, and Quiuering thigh, And the Demeanes, that there Adiacent lie, That in thy likenesse thou appeare to vs.
About ten days ago, in cocking a pistol in the guard-room at Marcau, he accidentally shot himself through the Thigh.

Etymology

From Middle English thigh, thegh, thiȝ, theȝhe, þigh, þyȝh, from Old English þēoh, þīoh, from Proto-West Germanic *þeuh, from Proto-Germanic *þeuhą, from Proto-Indo-European *tewk-. See also West Frisian tsjea, Dutch dij, Middle High German diech, Icelandic þjó; also Irish tóin (“hind, rump”), Lithuanian táukas (“fat”), Russian тук (tuk, “animal fat”).

This word in other languages

muslo(Español)cuisse(Français)Oberschenkel(Deutsch)coxa(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

htigh
thgih
thhigh
thiggh
thighh
thihg
tihgh
tthigh

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of thigh - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

Edit distance from "thigh"

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

How do you spell "thigh"?

"thigh" is spelled T-H-I-G-H. The IPA pronunciation is /θaɪ/.

What does "thigh" mean?

As a noun, "thigh" means: The upper leg of a human, between the hip and the knee.

What words are commonly confused with "thigh"?

"thigh" is commonly confused with "tig", "this", "thin". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.

How do you pronounce "thigh"?

The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "thigh" is /θaɪ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.

What is the origin of the word "thigh"?

From Middle English thigh, thegh, thiȝ, theȝhe, þigh, þyȝh, from Old English þēoh, þīoh, from Proto-West Germanic *þeuh, from Proto-Germanic *þeuhą, from Proto-Indo-European *tewk-. See also West Frisian tsjea, Dutch dij, Middle High German diech,... See the full etymology section above for more details.

Is PlainSpell free to use?

Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "thigh", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

troll#10,784 stoke#10,775 rumor#10,761 aisle#10,804

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

unpaid8 variants apparel8 variants regain8 variants proxy8 variants

What to do next

You've looked up "thigh". Here's where to go from here.

"thigh" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "tig". View pair
8 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
Usage frequency rank #10,781 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
Browse more English words in the "T" letter cohort. T–Z browse
PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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.