those
/ðəʊz/
"those" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“those” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #133 in English word frequency and used as a determiner.
- #133
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - plural of that
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | those |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Determiner |
| IPA | /ðəʊz/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #133 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “those” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for those is 5 letters long, classified as a determiner, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ðəʊz/. Corpus data places it at rank #133 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "plural of that".
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for those, with forms such as "htose", "thhose", and "thoes". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "toe", "TOS", "tse", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English thos (“those”), alteration of tho pl (“the; those”), equivalent to tho (“the; those”) + -s (plural ending), partly by analogy with thes (“these”), whose final -s is original and not a plural ending. More at tho. The correct English form is those, spelled T-H-O-S-E.
Definition
- 1plural of that
Etymology
From Middle English thos (“those”), alteration of tho pl (“the; those”), equivalent to tho (“the; those”) + -s (plural ending), partly by analogy with thes (“these”), whose final -s is original and not a plural ending. More at tho.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: htose,thhose,thoes,thosse,thsoe,tohse,tthose
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of those - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “those”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-H-O-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ðəʊz/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “toe” - see the side-by-side comparison. those vs toe
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.