thisvstimTell them apart

Quick tell: this is a adjective, tim is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“this” is an adjective and “tim” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,196
“this” frequency rank
#5,406
“tim” frequency rank
10602
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature this tim
Definition Ce … -ci, cette … -ci. Mèche.

Where the eye mixes this and tim

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
this
3 ch
tim

Why the eye confuses this with tim

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: this is \ðɪs\ while tim is \tim˦\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10602, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

this is recorded at frequency rank #5,196, classified as anadj, pronounced \ðɪs\. tim is at rank #5,406, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tim˦\.

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 10602, this pair ranks #412,353 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of this vs tim

Shared letters: it. Private to "this": hs. Private to "tim": m.

"this" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "tim" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • thishtis · thhis · thiss · thsi · tihs · tthis

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "this" and "tim" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "this" is an adjective and "tim" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "this" or "tim" show up more?
"this" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,196 in our French list, against #5,406 for "tim". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "this" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tim" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #412,353 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "this" and "tim" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tif vs tim". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #412,353 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