then vs these, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“then” is an adverb and “these” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#91
“then” frequency rank: #94
“these” frequency rank: 185
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	then	these
Definition	At that time.	plural of this

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set then and these apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

then

5 ch

these

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: then is /ðɛn/ while these is /ðiːz/. 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 (adverb vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 185, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

then is recorded at frequency rank #91, classified as anadv, pronounced /ðɛn/. these is at rank #94, tagged as adet, pronounced /ðiːz/.

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 185, this pair ranks #529,754 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of then vs these

Shared letters: eht. Private to "then": n. Private to "these": s.

"then" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "these" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

then ← hten · tehn · thenn · thhen · thne · tthen
these ← htese · tehse · thees · thesse · thhese · thsee · tthese

Frequency comparison

then#91

these#94

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "then" is an adverb and "these" a determiner, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

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

"then" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #91 in our English list, against #94 for "these". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering then vs these

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “then”; for a determiner, it's “these”.
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