that
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
4 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "that", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "that" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "that" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
that is aEnglishconj. It means: Introducing a clause that is the object of a verb, especially a reporting verb or verb expressing belief, knowledge, perception, etc. Pronounced /ðət/. It ranks #10 in English word frequency. Often confused with TT and the.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | that |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Conj |
| IPA | /ðət/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for that is 4 letters long, classified as aconj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ðət/. Corpus data places it at rank #10 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 12 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for that, with forms such as "htat", "taht", and "thatt". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "TT", "the", "tho", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English that, from Old English þæt (“the, that”, neuter definite article and relative pronoun), from Proto-West Germanic *þat, from Proto-Germanic *þat. Cognate to Scots that, Saterland Frisian dät, West Frisian dat, Dutch dat, Low German dat an… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is that, spelled T-H-A-T, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Introducing a clause that is the object of a verb, especially a reporting verb or verb expressing belief, knowledge, perception, etc.
- 2Introducing a clause that is the subject of a verb, especially the 'be' verb or a verb expressing judgement, opinion, etc.
- 3Introducing a clause that is the subject of a verb, especially the 'be' verb or a verb expressing judgement, opinion, etc.
- 4Introducing a clause that complements an adjective or passive participle.
- 5Introducing a clause that complements an adjective or passive participle.
- 6Introducing a subordinate clause modifying an adverb.
- 7Introducing a clause that describes the information content of a preceding reporting noun.
- 8Introducing — especially, but not exclusively, with an antecedent like so or such — a subordinate clause expressing a result, consequence, or effect.
- 9Introducing a subordinate clause that expresses an aim, purpose, or goal ("final"), and usually contains the auxiliaries may, might, or should: so, so that, in order that.
- 10Introducing a premise or supposition for consideration: seeing as; inasmuch as; given that; as would appear from the fact that.
- 11Introducing an exclamation expressing a desire or wish.
- 12Introducing an exclamation expressing a strong emotion such as sadness or surprise.
Etymology
From Middle English that, from Old English þæt (“the, that”, neuter definite article and relative pronoun), from Proto-West Germanic *þat, from Proto-Germanic *þat. Cognate to Scots that, Saterland Frisian dät, West Frisian dat, Dutch dat, Low German dat and datt, German dass and das, Danish det, Swedish det, Icelandic það, Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐍄𐌰 (þata). Further from Proto-Indo-European *tód; compare Ancient Greek τό (tó), Sanskrit तद् (tád), Waigali ta, Lithuanian tai̇̃, Polish to.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: htat,taht,thatt,thhat,thta,tthat
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for that
Misspelling Variants of "that"
Frequency rank: #10 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter T in our English index: