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

Which to use

“that'd” and “they'd” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,463
“that'd” frequency rank: #3,729
“they'd” frequency rank: 14192
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	that'd	they'd
Definition	that would	They had.

Where the eye mixes that'd and they'd

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. that'd (CCVCC) and they'd (CCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch

that'd

6 ch

they'd

Visual trap between that'd and they'd

A purely visual mix-up. that'd (/ˈðætəd/) and they'd (/ðeɪd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14192, 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/. they'd is at rank #3,729, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /ðeɪd/.

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 14192, this pair ranks #471,529 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of that'd vs they'd

Shared letters: dht. Private to "that'd": a. Private to "they'd": ey.

"that'd" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "they'd" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "that'd" and "they'd" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No. They are said differently (/ˈðætəd/ versus /ðeɪd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

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

"they'd" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,729 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.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

Full dictionary entry for "that'd" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "they'd" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #471,529 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"that'd" and "they'd" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "that'd vs thawed". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #471,529 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.