Which to use
“them” is a pronoun and “thyme” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #71
- “them” frequency rank
- #26,628
- “thyme” frequency rank
- 26699
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | them | thyme |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Those ones. | Any plant of the labiate genus Thymus, such as garden thyme (Thymus vulgaris), a warm, pungent aromatic, that is much used to give a relish to seasoning and soups. |
Where the eye mixes them and thyme
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses them with thyme
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: them is /ˈðɛm/ while thyme is /taɪm/. 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 26699, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
them is recorded at frequency rank #71, classified as apron, pronounced /ˈðɛm/. thyme is at rank #26,628, tagged as anoun, pronounced /taɪm/.
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 26699, this pair ranks #384,730 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of them vs thyme
Shared letters: ehmt. Private to "them": -. Private to "thyme": y.
"them" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "thyme" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "them" and "thyme" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "them" or "thyme" show up more?
Useful next steps
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 "thyme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #384,730 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "them" and "thyme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thyme vs thymus". 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 #384,730 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.