Which to use
“tart” is an adjective and “thar” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,975
- “tart” frequency rank
- #42,944
- “thar” frequency rank
- 60919
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tart | thar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sharp to the taste; acid; sour. | Nonstandard form of there. |
Letter map: tart vs thar
Shared letters muted; letters that set tart and thar apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. tart (CVCC) and thar (CCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Grammar separator: tart vs thar
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tart is anadjective and tharanadverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60919, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tart is recorded at frequency rank #17,975, classified as anadj, pronounced /tɑɹt/. thar is at rank #42,944, tagged as anadv.
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 60919, this pair ranks #97,373 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tart vs thar
Shared letters: art. Private to "tart": -. Private to "thar": h.
"tart" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "thar" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tart" for "thar" ever safe?
Which is more common, "tart" or "thar"?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "tart" and "thar".
- Full dictionary entry for "tart" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "thar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #97,373 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tart" and "thar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thar vs Trav". 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 #97,373 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.