Which to use
“their” is a determiner and “theme” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,023
- “their” frequency rank
- #23,049
- “theme” frequency rank
- 39072
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | their | theme |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Leur, leurs. | Thème, sujet ; argument. |
Where the eye mixes their and theme
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses their with theme
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: their is \ðɛə(ɹ)\ while theme is \ˈθim\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (determiner vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39072, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
their is recorded at frequency rank #16,023, classified as adet, pronounced \ðɛə(ɹ)\. theme is at rank #23,049, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈθim\.
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 39072, this pair ranks #250,718 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of their vs theme
Shared letters: eht. Private to "their": ir. Private to "theme": m.
"their" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "theme" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "their" for "theme" ever safe?
Frequency check: "their" vs "theme" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "their" and "theme" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "their" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "theme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #250,718 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "their" and "theme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tem vs theme". 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 #250,718 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.