Drive thru or drive through?
drive thru is an adjective meaning “Alternative spelling of drive-through”; drive through is an adjective meaning “Of an establishment, providing service to occupants of automobiles while they…”.
What is the difference between drive thru and drive through?
| drive thru | drive through | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective, noun | adjective, noun |
| Meaning | Alternative spelling of drive-through Alternative form of drive-through | Of an establishment, providing service to occupants of automobiles while they are in their still-running vehicle, especially when the vehicle does not park in… Of a feature of such an establishment (especially a window), adapted to provide such service An establishment, especially a restaurant, providing drive-through service |
| Example | none recorded | I switched banks so that I could use a drive-through branch near my home |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /ˈdɹaɪvˌθɹu/ |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | not counted (the list counts single words) |
Sources: drive thru and drive through in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of drive thru and drive through
drive thru
- 1
Alternative spelling of drive-through
- 2
Alternative spelling of drive-through
- 3
Alternative form of drive-through
- 4
Alternative form of drive-through
drive through
- 1
Of an establishment, providing service to occupants of automobiles while they are in their still-running vehicle, especially when the vehicle does not park in a parking space and the goods received…
I switched banks so that I could use a drive-through branch near my home
- 2
An establishment, especially a restaurant, providing drive-through service
Since I was pressed for time, I picked up burgers at a drive-through on the way home
- 3
Alternative form of drive-through
- 4
Alternative form of drive-through
- 5
Of a feature of such an establishment (especially a window), adapted to provide such service
The restaurant’s drive-through window had a turntable of bulletproof glass designed to allow transactions while preventing robberies
- 6
The window of such an establishment adapted for such purpose
“Please pull forward and pay at the drive-through,” said the attendant upon taking my order
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
How many people search drive thru vs drive through?
“drive thru vs drive through” is searched about 110 times a month on Google and 20 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“drive through vs drive thru”, “drive thru or drive through”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.