ThalesvsthatsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Thales is a name, thats is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Thales” is a name and “thats” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,413
“Thales” frequency rank
#2,922
“thats” frequency rank
46335
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Thales thats
Definition A pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Miletus in Asia Minor. plural of that

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Thales and thats apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
Thales
5 ch
thats

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Thales is aname and thatsanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46335, 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/. thats is at rank #2,922, tagged as anoun.

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 46335, this pair ranks #212,767 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Thales vs thats

Shared letters: ahst. Private to "Thales": el. Private to "thats": -.

"Thales" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "thats" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Thaleshtales · tahles · thaels · thaless · thalles · thalse · thhales · thlaes
  • thatshtats · tahts · thast · thatss · thatts · thhats · thtas · tthats

Frequency comparison

Thales#43,413
thats#2,922

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Thales" and "thats" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Thales" is a name and "thats" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Thales" or "thats"?
"thats" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,922 in our English list, against #43,413 for "Thales". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Thales vs thats

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “Thales”; for a noun, it's “thats”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Thales” 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