Which to use
“tern” is a noun and “than” is a conjunction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,923
- “tern” frequency rank
- #77
- “than” frequency rank
- 41000
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tern | than |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Any of various seabirds of the subfamily Sterninae (of the family Laridae) that are similar to gulls but are smaller and have a forked tail. | Used in comparisons, to introduce the basis of comparison. |
Where the eye mixes tern and than
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: tern vs than
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tern is /tɜːn/ 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 41000, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tern is recorded at frequency rank #40,923, classified as anoun, pronounced /tɜːn/. 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 41000, this pair ranks #262,442 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tern vs than
Shared letters: nt. Private to "tern": er. Private to "than": ah.
"tern" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "than" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tern" for "than" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "tern" or "than" show up more?
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 "tern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "than" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #262,442 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tern" and "than" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tern vs Thun". 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 #262,442 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.