Which to use
“eta” and “eth” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,836
- “eta” frequency rank
- #22,077
- “eth” frequency rank
- 39913
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | eta | eth |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The seventh letter of the Modern Greek alphabet, the eighth in Old Greek. | A letter (capital Ð, small ð) introduced into Old English to represent its dental fricative, then not distinguished from the letter thorn, no longer used in English but still in modern use in Icelandic, the IPA and other phonetic alphabets to represent the voiced dental fricative "th" sound as in the English word then. The letter is also used in Faroese, but is generally silent in that language. |
Where the eye mixes eta and eth
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between eta and eth
A purely visual mix-up. eta (/ˈiːtə/) and eth (/ɛð/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - a in “eta” becomes h in “eth”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39913, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
eta is recorded at frequency rank #17,836, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈiːtə/. eth is at rank #22,077, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɛð/.
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 39913, this pair ranks #272,345 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of eta vs eth
Shared letters: et. Private to "eta": a. Private to "eth": h.
"eta" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "eth" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "eta" for "eth" ever safe?
Frequency check: "eta" vs "eth" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "eta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "eth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #272,345 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "eta" and "eth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Eri vs eth". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #272,345 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.