Which to use
“Thelma” is a name and “them” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,400
- “Thelma” frequency rank
- #71
- “them” frequency rank
- 28471
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Thelma | them |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A female given name originating as a coinage. | Those ones. |
Letter map: Thelma vs them
Shared letters muted; letters that set Thelma and them apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. Thelma runs 6 letters (CCVCCV) against them's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: Thelma vs them
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Thelma is aname and themapronoun. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28471, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Thelma is recorded at frequency rank #28,400, classified as aname. them is at rank #71, tagged as apron, pronounced /ˈðɛm/.
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 28471, this pair ranks #370,818 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Thelma vs them
Shared letters: ehmt. Private to "Thelma": al. Private to "them": -.
"Thelma" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "them" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Thelma" for "them" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "Thelma" or "them" show up more?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Thelma" and "them".
- Full dictionary entry for "Thelma" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "them" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #370,818 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Thelma" and "them" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Thea vs Thelma". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #370,818 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.