Which to use
“that's” is a contraction and “thatch” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #143
- “that's” frequency rank
- #41,421
- “thatch” frequency rank
- 41564
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | that's | thatch |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | That is. | Straw, rushes, or similar, used for making or covering the roofs of buildings, or of stacks of hay or grain. |
Where the eye mixes that's and thatch
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. that's runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against thatch's 6 (CCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: that's vs thatch
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: that's is /ðəts/ while thatch is /θæt͡ʃ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (contraction vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41564, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
that's is recorded at frequency rank #143, classified as acontraction, pronounced /ðəts/. thatch is at rank #41,421, tagged as anoun, pronounced /θæt͡ʃ/.
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 41564, this pair ranks #257,165 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of that's vs thatch
Shared letters: aht. Private to "that's": s. Private to "thatch": c.
"that's" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "thatch" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- thatch ← htatch · tahtch · thacth · thatcch · thatchh · thathc · thattch · thhatch
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "that's" for "thatch" ever safe?
Frequency check: "that's" vs "thatch" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "that's" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "thatch" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #257,165 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "that's" and "thatch" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thatch vs thatched". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #257,165 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.