theftvsthésWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#43,182
“theft” frequency rank
#31,280
“thés” frequency rank
74462
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature theft thés
Definition Vol. Pluriel de thé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set theft and thés apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
theft
4 ch
thés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. theft (\θɛft\) and thés (\te\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74462, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

theft is recorded at frequency rank #43,182, classified as anoun, pronounced \θɛft\. thés is at rank #31,280, tagged as anoun, pronounced \te\.

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 74462, this pair ranks #37,106 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of theft vs thés

Shared letters: ht. Private to "theft": ef. Private to "thés": .

"theft" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "thés" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • thefthteft · tehft · thefft · theftt · thetf · thfet · thheft · ttheft

Frequency comparison

theft#43,182
thés#31,280

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "theft" and "thés" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\θɛft\ versus \te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "theft" or "thés"?
"thés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,280 in our French list, against #43,182 for "theft". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering theft vs thés

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 “theft” 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