Which to use
“that” is a conjunction and “theft” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,506
- “that” frequency rank
- #43,182
- “theft” frequency rank
- 48688
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | that | theft |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Que. | Vol. |
Where the eye mixes that and theft
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between that and theft
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: that is \ðət\ while theft is \θɛft\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (conjunction vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48688, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
that is recorded at frequency rank #5,506, classified as aconj, pronounced \ðət\. theft is at rank #43,182, tagged as anoun, pronounced \θɛft\.
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 48688, this pair ranks #176,807 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of that vs theft
Shared letters: ht. Private to "that": a. Private to "theft": ef.
"that" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "theft" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "that" and "theft" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "that" or "theft"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "that" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "theft" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #176,807 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "that" and "theft" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "theft vs thés". 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 #176,807 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.