there's vs Theseus, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“there's” is a contraction and “Theseus” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#267
“there's” frequency rank: #40,476
“Theseus” frequency rank: 40743
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	there's	Theseus
Definition	Contraction of there is.	A legendary Ancient Greek hero most famous for defeating the minotaur in the labyrinth of Crete.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set there's and Theseus apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

there's

7 ch

Theseus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: there's is /ðəɹz/ while Theseus is /ˈθiːsjuːs/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (contraction vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40743, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

there's is recorded at frequency rank #267, classified as acontraction, pronounced /ðəɹz/. Theseus is at rank #40,476, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈθiːsjuːs/.

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 40743, this pair ranks #264,787 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of there's vs Theseus

Shared letters: ehst. Private to "there's": r. Private to "Theseus": u.

"there's" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "Theseus" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

Theseus ← hteseus · tehseus · theesus · thesesu · theseuss · thesseus · thesues · thheseus

Frequency comparison

there's#267

Theseus#40,476

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "there's" and "Theseus" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "there's" is a contraction and "Theseus" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "there's" or "Theseus"?

"there's" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #267 in our English list, against #40,476 for "Theseus". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering there's vs Theseus

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a contraction, it's “there's”; for a name, it's “Theseus”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “there's” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable