thatvstotWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: that is a conjunction, tot is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“that” is a conjunction and “tot” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10
“that” frequency rank
#23,707
“tot” frequency rank
23717
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature that tot
Definition Introducing a clause that is the object of a verb, especially a reporting verb or verb expressing belief, knowledge, perception, etc. A small child.

Where the eye mixes that and tot

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
that
3 ch
tot

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: that is /ðət/ while tot is /tɒt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (conjunction vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23717, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

that is recorded at frequency rank #10, classified as aconj, pronounced /ðət/. tot is at rank #23,707, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɒt/.

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 23717, this pair ranks #407,266 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of that vs tot

Shared letters: t. Private to "that": ah. Private to "tot": o.

"that" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "tot" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • thathtat · taht · thatt · thhat · thta · tthat

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "that" and "tot" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "that" is a conjunction and "tot" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "that" or "tot"?
"that" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10 in our English list, against #23,707 for "tot". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "that" and "tot". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "that" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #407,266 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "that" and "tot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tot vs tuft". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list