textvsthatWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: text is a noun, that is a conjunction, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“text” is a noun and “that” is a conjunction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,062
“text” frequency rank
#10
“that” frequency rank
1072
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature text that
Definition A writing consisting of multiple glyphs, characters, symbols or sentences. Introducing a clause that is the object of a verb, especially a reporting verb or verb expressing belief, knowledge, perception, etc.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set text and that apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
text
4 ch
that

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

text and that form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1072, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

text is recorded at frequency rank #1,062, classified as anoun, pronounced /tɛkst/. that is at rank #10, tagged as aconj, pronounced /ðət/.

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 1072, this pair ranks #528,168 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

text#1,062
that#10

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "text" and "that" be used interchangeably?
No, "text" and "that" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering text vs that

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “text”; for a conjunction, it's “that”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “text” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list