Which to use
“thug” and “thym” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,229
- “thug” frequency rank
- #32,217
- “thym” frequency rank
- 80446
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | thug | thym |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Membre d’une secte indienne qui pratiquait la strangulation rituelle. | Genre de plantes de la famille des Lamiacées dont l’espèce la plus connue est le Thymus vulgaris, plante aromatique et médicinale, qui est utilisée en cuisine et pour la préparation d’infusions et de décoctions. Sauvage et très répandu dans les garrigues des rives de la méditerranée, il est aussi, pour ses vertus, cultivé dans les jardins. |
Where the eye mixes thug and thym
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: thug vs thym
A purely visual mix-up. thug (\tœɡ\) and thym (\tɛ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80446, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
thug is recorded at frequency rank #48,229, classified as anoun, pronounced \tœɡ\. thym is at rank #32,217, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɛ̃\.
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 80446, this pair ranks #20,897 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of thug vs thym
Shared letters: ht. Private to "thug": gu. Private to "thym": my.
"thug" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "thym" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "thug" for "thym" ever safe?
Which is more common, "thug" or "thym"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "thug" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "thym" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #20,897 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "thug" and "thym" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thug vs tun". 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 #20,897 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.