theirvsThemaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: their is a pronoun, Thema is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“their” is a pronoun and “Thema” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,131
“their” frequency rank
#388
“Thema” frequency rank
11519
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature their Thema
Definition ihr gedanklicher Mittelpunkt

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set their and Thema apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
their
5 ch
Thema

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: their is apronoun and Themaanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11519, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

their is recorded at frequency rank #11,131, classified as apron, pronounced […]. Thema is at rank #388, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈteːma].

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 11519, this pair ranks #1,969,464 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of their vs Thema

Shared letters: eht. Private to "their": ir. Private to "Thema": am.

"their" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "Thema" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • theirhteir · tehir · theirr · theri · thheir · thier · ttheir
  • Themahtema · tehma · theam · themma · thhema · thmea · tthema

Frequency comparison

their#11,131
Thema#388

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "their" and "Thema" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "their" is a pronoun and "Thema" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "their" or "Thema"?
"Thema" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #388 in our German list, against #11,131 for "their". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering their vs Thema

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a pronoun, it's “their”; for a noun, it's “Thema”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “their” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list