Which to use
“those” is a determiner and “thyme” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #133
- “those” frequency rank
- #26,628
- “thyme” frequency rank
- 26761
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | those | thyme |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of that | Any plant of the labiate genus Thymus, such as garden thyme (Thymus vulgaris), a warm, pungent aromatic, that is much used to give a relish to seasoning and soups. |
Where the eye mixes those and thyme
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses those with thyme
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: those is /ðəʊz/ while thyme is /taɪm/. 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 (determiner vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26761, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
those is recorded at frequency rank #133, classified as adet, pronounced /ðəʊz/. thyme is at rank #26,628, tagged as anoun, pronounced /taɪm/.
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 26761, this pair ranks #384,279 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of those vs thyme
Shared letters: eht. Private to "those": os. Private to "thyme": my.
"those" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "thyme" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "those" and "thyme" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "those" or "thyme"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "those" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "thyme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #384,279 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "those" and "thyme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thyme vs thymus". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #384,279 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.