Which to use
“that's” is a contraction and “thats” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #143
- “that's” frequency rank
- #2,922
- “thats” frequency rank
- 3065
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | that's | thats |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | That is. | plural of that |
Letter map: that's vs thats
Shared letters muted; letters that set that's and thats apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. that's and thats follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Role in the sentence - that's and thats
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: that's is acontraction and thatsanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3065, 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/. 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 3065, this pair ranks #523,220 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of that's vs thats
Shared letters: ahst. Private to "that's": -. Private to "thats": -.
"that's" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "thats" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- thats ← htats · tahts · thast · thatss · thatts · thhats · thtas · tthats
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "that's" for "thats" ever safe?
Frequency check: "that's" vs "thats" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "that's" and "thats".
- Full dictionary entry for "that's" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "thats" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #523,220 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "that's" and "thats" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thats vs tints". 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 #523,220 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.