thymus
/ˈθaɪ.məs/
"thymus" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“thymus” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #48,528 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #48,528
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - 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 pl...
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 | thymus |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈθaɪ.məs/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #48,528 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “thymus” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for thymus is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈθaɪ.məs/. Corpus data places it at rank #48,528 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "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 pl...".
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for thymus, with forms such as "htymus", "thhymus", and "thmyus". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "thus", "thyme", "Thomas", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From New Latin thymus, from Ancient Greek θύμος (thúmos, “warty excrescence, (also, as used by Galen) thymus gland”). The correct English form is thymus, spelled T-H-Y-M-U-S.
Definition
- 1Ellipsis 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.”).
Etymology
From New Latin thymus, from Ancient Greek θύμος (thúmos, “warty excrescence, (also, as used by Galen) thymus gland”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: htymus,thhymus,thmyus,thymmus,thymsu,thymuss,thyums,thyymus,tthymus,tyhmus
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of thymus - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "thymus"?
What does "thymus" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "thymus"?
How do you pronounce "thymus"?
What is the origin of the word "thymus"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “thymus”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-H-Y-M-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈθaɪ.məs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “thus” - see the side-by-side comparison. thymus vs thus
- 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.