Which to use
“those” is a determiner and “thus” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #133
- “those” frequency rank
- #1,323
- “thus” frequency rank
- 1456
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | those | thus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of that | In this way or manner. |
Where the eye mixes those and thus
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: those is /ðəʊz/ while thus is /ˈðʌs/. 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 (determiner vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1456, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
those is recorded at frequency rank #133, classified as adet, pronounced /ðəʊz/. thus is at rank #1,323, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈðʌs/.
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 1456, this pair ranks #527,391 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of those vs thus
Shared letters: hst. Private to "those": eo. Private to "thus": u.
"those" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "thus" · 4 letters · shape CCVC