Which to use
“there” is an adverb and “third” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #57
- “there” frequency rank
- #483
- “third” frequency rank
- 540
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | there | third |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | In or at a place or location (stated, implied or otherwise indicated) that is perceived to be away from, or at a relative distance from, the speaker (compare here). | The ordinal form of the cardinal number three; Coming after the second. |
Where the eye mixes there and third
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: there is /ðə(ɹ)/ while third is /θɜːd/. 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 (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 540, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
there is recorded at frequency rank #57, classified as anadv, pronounced /ðə(ɹ)/. third is at rank #483, tagged as anadj, pronounced /θɜːd/.
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 540, this pair ranks #529,241 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of there vs third
Shared letters: hrt. Private to "there": e. Private to "third": di.
"there" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "third" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC