then vs thence, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“then” and “thence” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#91
“then” frequency rank: #26,627
“thence” frequency rank: 26718
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	then	thence
Definition	At that time.	From there, from that place or from that time.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set then and thence apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

then

6 ch

thence

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. then (/ðɛn/) and thence (/ðɛns/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “then” sits inside “thence”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26718, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

then is recorded at frequency rank #91, classified as anadv, pronounced /ðɛn/. thence is at rank #26,627, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ðɛns/.

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 26718, this pair ranks #384,580 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of then vs thence

Shared letters: ehnt. Private to "then": -. Private to "thence": c.

"then" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "thence" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

then ← hten · tehn · thenn · thhen · thne · tthen
thence ← htence · tehnce · thance · thecne · thencce · thenec · thennce · thhence

Frequency comparison

then#91

thence#26,627

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "then" and "thence" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ðɛn/ versus /ðɛns/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "then" or "thence"?

"then" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #91 in our English list, against #26,627 for "thence". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering then vs thence

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “then” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable