THvstirConfusable pair

Which to use

“TH” and “tir” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#16,022
“TH” frequency rank
#2,969
“tir” frequency rank
18991
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature TH tir
Definition titre hydrotimétrique (GH en allemand pour GesamtHärte). Action, art de tirer, de faire partir une arme de jet ou une arme à feu dans une direction déterminée.

Where the eye mixes TH and tir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch
TH
3 ch
tir

Why the eye confuses TH with tir

A purely visual mix-up. TH (\te.aʃ\) and tir (\tiʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18991, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

TH is recorded at frequency rank #16,022, classified as anoun, pronounced \te.aʃ\. tir is at rank #2,969, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tiʁ\.

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 18991, this pair ranks #375,577 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of TH vs tir

Shared letters: t. Private to "TH": h. Private to "tir": ir.

"TH" · 2 letters · shape CC  ·  "tir" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "TH" and "tir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\te.aʃ\ versus \tiʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "TH" or "tir"?
"tir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,969 in our French list, against #16,022 for "TH". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "TH" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #375,577 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "TH" and "tir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "TH vs tif". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #375,577 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list