Which to use
“team” is a noun and “than” is a conjunction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #203
- “team” frequency rank
- #77
- “than” frequency rank
- 280
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | team | than |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A set of draught animals, such as two horses in front of a carriage. | Used in comparisons, to introduce the basis of comparison. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set team and than apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: team is /tiːm/ while than is /ðæn/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs conjunction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 280, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
team is recorded at frequency rank #203, classified as anoun, pronounced /tiːm/. than is at rank #77, tagged as aconj, pronounced /ðæn/.
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 280, this pair ranks #529,644 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of team vs than
Shared letters: at. Private to "team": em. Private to "than": hn.
"team" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "than" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "team" and "than" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "team" or "than"?
Remembering team vs than
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “team”; for a conjunction, it's “than”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “team” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable