that vs that's, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“that” is a pronoun and “that's” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,784
“that” frequency rank: #22,213
“that's” frequency rank: 27997
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	that	that's
Definition	Ese, esa, esos, esas.	Contracción de 'that is', ese es, esa es, aquel es, aquella es.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set that and that's apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

that

6 ch

that's

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: that is /ðæt/ while that's is [Audio, EEUU] /ðæts/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “that” sits inside “that's”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs contraction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27997, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

that is recorded at frequency rank #5,784, classified as apron, pronounced /ðæt/. that's is at rank #22,213, tagged as acontraction, pronounced [Audio, EEUU] /ðæts/.

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 27997, this pair ranks #224,153 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of that vs that's

Shared letters: aht. Private to "that": -. Private to "that's": s.

"that" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "that's" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

that ← htat · taht · thatt · thhat · thta · tthat

Frequency comparison

that#5,784

that's#22,213

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "that" and "that's" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "that" is a pronoun and "that's" a contraction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "that" or "that's"?

"that" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,784 in our Spanish list, against #22,213 for "that's". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering that vs that's

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a pronoun, it's “that”; for a contraction, it's “that's”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “that” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable