thavsthankWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“tha” and “thank” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#43,181
“tha” frequency rank
#27,987
“thank” frequency rank
71168
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tha thank
Definition Libérer. Remercier.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tha and thank apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
tha
5 ch
thank

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. tha (\tʰa˦\) and thank (\ˈθæŋk\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “tha” sits inside “thank”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71168, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tha is recorded at frequency rank #43,181, classified as averb, pronounced \tʰa˦\. thank is at rank #27,987, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈθæŋk\.

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 71168, this pair ranks #48,549 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tha vs thank

Shared letters: aht. Private to "tha": -. Private to "thank": kn.

"tha" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "thank" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • thankhtank · tahnk · thakn · thankk · thannk · thhank · thnak · tthank

Frequency comparison

tha#43,181
thank#27,987

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tha" and "thank" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\tʰa˦\ versus \ˈθæŋk\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tha" or "thank"?
"thank" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,987 in our French list, against #43,181 for "tha". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering tha vs thank

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tha” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list