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That or who?

that is a conjunction meaning “Introducing a clause that is the object of a verb, especially a reporting verb…”; who is a pronoun meaning “What person or people; which person or people; asks for the identity of…”. Use that as a conjunction and who as a pronoun (that is also a pronoun: “The thing, person, idea, quality, event, action, or time…”). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) that is about 4.7 times as common as who.

thatorwho

What is the difference between that and who?

thatwho
Part of speechconjunction, determiner, pronoun, adverb, nounpronoun, noun, determiner
Meaning

Introducing a clause that is the object of a verb, especially a reporting verb or verb expressing belief, knowledge, perception, etc

As delayed subject

The (thing, person, idea, etc) indicated or understood from context, especially if more remote physically, temporally or mentally than one designated as…

What person or people; which person or people; asks for the identity of someone; used in a direct or indirect question

With antecedent as subject

A person under discussion; a question of which person

ExampleHe told me that the book is a good readYou're getting married‽ Who to? (direct question)
Forms'at, 't, dat, thetwhom, whose
Pronunciation/ðət/ /ðæt/ [ˈðat]/huː/ /hʉw/ /hu/
In writing10,233 times per million words2,188 times per million words

Sources: that and who in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Every current meaning of that and who

that

  1. 1

    conjunction Introducing a clause that is the object of a verb, especially a reporting verb or verb expressing belief, knowledge, perception, etc

    He told me that the book is a good read

  2. 2

    determiner The (thing, person, idea, etc) indicated or understood from context, especially if more remote physically, temporally or mentally than one designated as “this”, or if expressing distinction

    That book is a good read. This one isn't

  3. 3

    pronoun The thing, person, idea, quality, event, action, or time indicated or understood from context, especially if more remote geographically, temporally or mentally than one designated as “this”, or if…

    That's my car over there

  4. 4

    adverb Denoting an equal degree

    Here's the measurement – the ribbon must be that long, no longer and no shorter

  5. 5

    noun Something being indicated that is there; one of those

  6. 6

    conjunction As delayed subject

    It is almost certain that she will come

  7. 7

    pronoun Used to refer to a noun phrase or statement just made

    They're getting divorced. What do you think about that?

  8. 8

    adverb Denoting ‘as much’, ‘no less’

    She said we waited for three hours, but I'm sure it wasn't that long

who

  1. 1

    pronoun What person or people; which person or people; asks for the identity of someone; used in a direct or indirect question

    You're getting married‽ Who to? (direct question)

  2. 2

    noun A person under discussion; a question of which person

  3. 3

    determiner whose

    Who phone just rang?

  4. 4

    pronoun Honorific alternative letter-case form of who, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context

  5. 5

    pronoun With antecedent as subject

    That's the man who works at the newsagent. (defining)

  6. 6

    pronoun With antecedent as object: whom

    That's the man who I saw earlier

  7. 7

    pronoun Whoever, he who, they who

    Who dares wins

  8. 8

    pronoun informalAlso used with names of collective nouns that are groups of people, especially singularly-named musical groups or sports teams

    Who are the Miami Heat?

Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.

Which is more common, that or who?

that appears 10,233 times per million words; who 2,188 times per million words.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How many people search that vs who?

“that vs who” is searched about 880 times a month on Google and 30 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“who vs that”, “that or who”).

Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.

The words