theismvstheseWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: theism is a noun, these is a determiner, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“theism” is a noun and “these” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,959
“theism” frequency rank
#94
“these” frequency rank
48053
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature theism these
Definition Belief in the existence of at least one deity. plural of this

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set theism and these apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
theism
5 ch
these

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: theism is /ˈθiː.ɪz.əm/ while these is /ðiːz/. 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 (noun vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48053, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

theism is recorded at frequency rank #47,959, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈθiː.ɪz.əm/. these is at rank #94, tagged as adet, pronounced /ðiːz/.

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 48053, this pair ranks #196,741 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of theism vs these

Shared letters: ehst. Private to "theism": im. Private to "these": -.

"theism" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC  ·  "these" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • theismhteism · tehism · theims · theismm · theissm · thesim · thheism · thiesm
  • thesehtese · tehse · thees · thesse · thhese · thsee · tthese

Frequency comparison

theism#47,959
these#94

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "theism" and "these" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "theism" is a noun and "these" a determiner, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "theism" or "these"?
"these" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #94 in our English list, against #47,959 for "theism". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering theism vs these

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “theism”; for a determiner, it's “these”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “theism” 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