thatvstraWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#10
“that” frequency rank
#25,622
“tra” frequency rank
25632
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature that tra
Definition Introducing a clause that is the object of a verb, especially a reporting verb or verb expressing belief, knowledge, perception, etc. Synonym of iridescent shark (“a shark catfish of species Pangasianodon hypophthalmus”).

Letter map: that vs tra

Shared letters muted; letters that set that and tra apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
that
3 ch
tra

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: that is aconjunction and traanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25632, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

that is recorded at frequency rank #10, classified as aconj, pronounced /ðət/. tra is at rank #25,622, 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 25632, this pair ranks #392,794 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of that vs tra

Shared letters: at. Private to "that": h. Private to "tra": r.

"that" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "tra" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "that" and "tra" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "that" is a conjunction and "tra" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "that" or "tra"?
"that" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10 in our English list, against #25,622 for "tra". 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 "tra". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "that" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #392,794 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "that" and "tra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tra vs Trav". 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