Which to use
“them” is a pronoun and “THW” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,759
- “them” frequency rank
- #15,494
- “THW” frequency rank
- 31253
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | them | THW |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Personalpronomen 3. Person Plural Objektform: ihnen, sie | Bundesanstalt Technisches Hilfswerk |
Where the eye mixes them and THW
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: them vs THW
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: them is [ðɛm] while THW is [teːhaːˈveː]. 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 (pronoun vs abbrev), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31253, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
them is recorded at frequency rank #15,759, classified as apron, pronounced [ðɛm]. THW is at rank #15,494, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced [teːhaːˈveː].
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 31253, this pair ranks #1,731,812 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of them vs THW
Shared letters: ht. Private to "them": em. Private to "THW": w.
"them" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "THW" · 3 letters · shape CCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- them ← htem · tehm · themm · thhem · thme · tthem
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "them" for "THW" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "them" or "THW" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "them" and "THW" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "them" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "THW" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,731,812 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "them" and "THW" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "them vs thy". 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 #1,731,812 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.