that'd vs thats, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“that'd” is a contraction and “thats” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,463
“that'd” frequency rank: #2,922
“thats” frequency rank: 13385
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	that'd	thats
Definition	that would	plural of that

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch

that'd

5 ch

thats

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: that'd is acontraction and thatsanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13385, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

that'd is recorded at frequency rank #10,463, classified as acontraction, pronounced /ˈðætəd/. 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 13385, this pair ranks #476,139 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of that'd vs thats

Shared letters: aht. Private to "that'd": d. Private to "thats": s.

"that'd" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "thats" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

thats ← htats · tahts · thast · thatss · thatts · thhats · thtas · tthats

Frequency comparison

that'd#10,463

thats#2,922

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "that'd" and "thats" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "that'd" is a contraction and "thats" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "that'd" or "thats"?

"thats" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,922 in our English list, against #10,463 for "that'd". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering that'd vs thats

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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