Which to use
“their” is a determiner and “they're” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #56
- “their” frequency rank
- #321
- “they're” frequency rank
- 377
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | their | they're |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Belonging to, from, of, or relating to, them (plural). | Contraction of they + are. |
Same sound, different letters: their vs they're
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: their and they're carry the same recorded pronunciation, /ðɛə/. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is adeterminer, the other acontraction, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 377, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
their is recorded at frequency rank #56, classified as adet, pronounced /ðɛə/. they're is at rank #321, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /ðɛə/.
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 377, this pair ranks #529,519 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of their vs they're
Shared letters: ehrt. Private to "their": i. Private to "they're": y.
"their" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "they're" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- their ← hteir · tehir · theirr · theri · thheir · ttheir