Which to use
“them” is a pronoun and “thump” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #71
- “them” frequency rank
- #30,261
- “thump” frequency rank
- 30332
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | them | thump |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Those ones. | A blow that produces a muffled sound. |
Where the eye mixes them and thump
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between them and thump
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: them is /ˈðɛm/ while thump is /θʌmp/. 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 (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30332, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
them is recorded at frequency rank #71, classified as apron, pronounced /ˈðɛm/. thump is at rank #30,261, tagged as anoun, pronounced /θʌmp/.
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 30332, this pair ranks #355,442 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of them vs thump
Shared letters: hmt. Private to "them": e. Private to "thump": pu.
"them" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "thump" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "them" and "thump" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "them" or "thump"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "them" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "thump" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #355,442 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "them" and "thump" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thump vs Thun". 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 #355,442 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.