tharvsthudWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: thar is a adverb, thud is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“thar” is an adverb and “thud” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,944
“thar” frequency rank
#33,056
“thud” frequency rank
76000
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature thar thud
Definition Nonstandard form of there. The sound of a dull impact.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
thar
4 ch
thud

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: thar is anadverb and thudanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76000, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

thar is recorded at frequency rank #42,944, classified as anadv. thud is at rank #33,056, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈθʌd/.

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 76000, this pair ranks #31,397 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of thar vs thud

Shared letters: ht. Private to "thar": ar. Private to "thud": du.

"thar" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "thud" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tharhtar · tahr · tharr · thhar · thra · tthar
  • thudhtud · thdu · thhud · thudd · tthud · tuhd

Frequency comparison

thar#42,944
thud#33,056

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "thar" and "thud" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "thar" is an adverb and "thud" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "thar" or "thud"?
"thud" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,056 in our English list, against #42,944 for "thar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering thar vs thud

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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