theirvsthereWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: their is a pronoun, there is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#11,131
“their” frequency rank
#9,990
“there” frequency rank
21121
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature their there
Definition ihr da, dort

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set their and there apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
their
5 ch
there

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

their and there form a confusable pair in the German index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21121, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

their is recorded at frequency rank #11,131, classified as apron, pronounced […]. there is at rank #9,990, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ðɛə].

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 21121, this pair ranks #1,889,952 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

their#11,131
there#9,990

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "their" and "there" be used interchangeably?
No, "their" and "there" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering their vs there

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a pronoun, it's “their”; for an adverb, it's “there”.
  • 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