themvstseWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: them is a pronoun, tse is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“them” is a pronoun and “tse” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#71
“them” frequency rank
#32,219
“tse” frequency rank
32290
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature them tse
Definition Those ones. The letter Ц, ц.

Letter map: them vs tse

Shared letters muted; letters that set them and tse apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
them
3 ch
tse

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: them is apronoun and tseanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32290, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

them is recorded at frequency rank #71, classified as apron, pronounced /ˈðɛm/. tse is at rank #32,219, tagged as anoun.

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 32290, this pair ranks #339,051 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of them vs tse

Shared letters: et. Private to "them": hm. Private to "tse": s.

"them" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "tse" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • themhtem · tehm · themm · thhem · thme · tthem

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "them" and "tse" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "them" is a pronoun and "tse" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "them" or "tse"?
"them" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #71 in our English list, against #32,219 for "tse". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list