tharvsturWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#42,944
“thar” frequency rank
#39,138
“tur” frequency rank
82082
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature thar tur
Definition Nonstandard form of there. Either of two species of wild goat native to Caucasus, West Caucasian tur Capra caucasica or East Caucasian tur Capra cylindricornis.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
thar
3 ch
tur

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: thar is anadverb and turanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82082, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

thar is recorded at frequency rank #42,944, classified as anadv. tur is at rank #39,138, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tʊə/.

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 82082, this pair ranks #16,431 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of thar vs tur

Shared letters: rt. Private to "thar": ah. Private to "tur": u.

"thar" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "tur" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tharhtar · tahr · tharr · thhar · thra · tthar

Frequency comparison

thar#42,944
tur#39,138

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "thar" and "tur" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "thar" is an adverb and "tur" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "thar" or "tur"?
"tur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,138 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 tur

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 “tur”.
  • 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