Thebes vs there's, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“Thebes” is a name and “there's” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,785
“Thebes” frequency rank: #267
“there's” frequency rank: 37052
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Thebes	there's
Definition	A city in central Greece, the capital city of Boeotia and an important political centre in antiquity.	Contraction of there is.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Thebes and there's apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

Thebes

7 ch

there's

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Thebes is /θiːbz/ while there's is /ðəɹz/. 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 (name vs contraction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37052, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Thebes is recorded at frequency rank #36,785, classified as aname, pronounced /θiːbz/. there's is at rank #267, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /ðəɹz/.

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 37052, this pair ranks #297,861 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Thebes vs there's

Shared letters: ehst. Private to "Thebes": b. Private to "there's": r.

"Thebes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "there's" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

Thebes ← htebes · tehbes · thbees · thebbes · thebess · thebse · theebs · thhebes

Frequency comparison

Thebes#36,785

there's#267

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Thebes" and "there's" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Thebes" is a name and "there's" a contraction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "Thebes" or "there's"?

"there's" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #267 in our English list, against #36,785 for "Thebes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Thebes vs there's

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “Thebes”; for a contraction, it's “there's”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Thebes” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable