Figure like that thing (5)
I believe the answer is:
digit
'figure' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'like that thing' is the wordplay.
'like' becomes 'dig' (I've seen this in other clues).
'that thing' becomes 'it'.
'dig'+'it'='DIGIT'
(Other definitions for digit that I've seen before include "using 0 or 1 for example" , "Single numeral" , "a number less than ten" , "Need a bit of a hand" , "one's given?" .)