thayvstodayWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: thay is a article, today is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“thay” is an article and “today” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,958
“thay” frequency rank
#258
“today” frequency rank
44216
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature thay today
Definition Pronunciation spelling of the. On the current day or date.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set thay and today apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
thay
5 ch
today

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

thay and today form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44216, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

thay is recorded at frequency rank #43,958, classified as anarticle. today is at rank #258, tagged as anadv, pronounced /təˈdeɪ/.

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 44216, this pair ranks #232,650 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Frequency comparison

thay#43,958
today#258

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "thay" and "today" be used interchangeably?
No, "thay" and "today" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering thay vs today

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an article, it's “thay”; for an adverb, it's “today”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “thay” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list