Which to use
“Thales” is a name and “that's” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,413
- “Thales” frequency rank
- #143
- “that's” frequency rank
- 43556
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Thales | that's |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Miletus in Asia Minor. | That is. |
Where the eye mixes Thales and that's
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Thales runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against that's's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: Thales vs that's
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Thales is /ˈθeɪliːz/ while that's is /ðəts/. 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 (name vs contraction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43556, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Thales is recorded at frequency rank #43,413, classified as aname, pronounced /ˈθeɪliːz/. that's is at rank #143, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /ðəts/.
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 43556, this pair ranks #238,882 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Thales vs that's
Shared letters: ahst. Private to "Thales": el. Private to "that's": -.
"Thales" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "that's" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Thales ← htales · tahles · thaels · thaless · thalles · thalse · thhales · thlaes
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Thales" and "that's" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "Thales" or "that's"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "Thales" and "that's" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Thales" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "that's" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #238,882 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Thales" and "that's" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tamales vs Thales". 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 #238,882 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.