thorn

\tɔʁn\

/\tɔʁn\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“thorn” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #43,696. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#43,696
frequency rank, French
3,703
“T” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Lettre scandinave aujourd’hui uniquement en islandais, mais qui fut également utilisée par des langues mortes telles que l’anglo-saxon. Majuscule : Þ, minuscule : þ.

Corpus desk

Index FR-thorn · thorn · French

thorn · rank #43,696 · 8 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #43,696
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,703
  • PHOTO-FINISH Therrien

Nearest frequency peer: Therrien (-1 rank slots)

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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « thorn »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « thorn » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

thorn vs ton
60% similar
thorn vs Tor
40% similar
thorn vs tort
60% similar

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

Key facts for thorn
PropertyValue
Headwordthorn
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\tɔʁn\
Letters5
Frequency rank#43,696
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « thorn »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.thornse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « Therrien » (#43,695), « Thouars » (#43,697), « THC » (#43,694). Parmi 3,703 lemmes en « T », « thorn » est au #43,696. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around thorn (IPA \tɔʁn\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #43,696 among 3,703 “T” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Lettre scandinave aujourd’hui uniquement en islandais, mais qui fut également utilisée par des langues mortes telles que l’anglo-saxon. Majuscule : Þ, minuscule : þ.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for thorn, with forms such as "htorn", "thhorn", and "thonr". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ton", "Tor", "tort", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is thorn, spelled T-H-O-R-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Lettre scandinave aujourd’hui uniquement en islandais, mais qui fut également utilisée par des langues mortes telles que l’anglo-saxon. Majuscule : Þ, minuscule : þ.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • htorn
  • thhorn
  • thonr
  • thornn
  • thorrn
  • thron
  • tohrn
  • tthorn

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of thorn - 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.

htorn2thhorn1thonr2thornn1thorrn1thron2tohrn2tthorn1
Edit distance from "thorn"

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "thorn"?
"thorn" is spelled T-H-O-R-N. The IPA pronunciation is \tɔʁn\.
What does "thorn" mean?
As a noun, "thorn" means: Lettre scandinave aujourd’hui uniquement en islandais, mais qui fut également utilisée par des langues mortes telles que l’anglo-saxon. Majuscule : Þ, minuscule : þ.
What words are commonly confused with "thorn"?
"thorn" is commonly confused with "ton", "Tor", "tort". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "thorn"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "thorn" is \tɔʁn\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "thorn" come from?
"thorn" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 French words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

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

tears#43,692tares#43,689troue#43,708Suzie#43,682

Similar misspelling depth

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

teigne8 variantstouffes8 variantsVarela8 variantsspitz8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list