Which to use
“then” is an adverb and “than” is a conjunction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #91
- “then” frequency rank
- #77
- “than” frequency rank
- 99
- confusion score
“Then” is about time or sequence (first this, then that). “Than” is for comparisons (bigger than, rather than). They are never interchangeable.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | then | than |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | At that time. | Used in comparisons, to introduce the basis of comparison. |
Where the eye mixes then and than
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: then is /ðɛn/ while than is /ðæn/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “then” becomes a in “than”, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs conjunction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 99, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
then is recorded at frequency rank #91, classified as anadv, pronounced /ðɛn/. than is at rank #77, tagged as aconj, pronounced /ðæn/.
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 99, this pair ranks #529,885 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of then vs than
Shared letters: hnt. Private to "then": e. Private to "than": a.
"then" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "than" · 4 letters · shape CCVC