Which to use
“them” is a verb and “thu” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,418
- “them” frequency rank
- #48,228
- “thu” frequency rank
- 67646
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | them | thu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dire. | Forme mutée de tu par spirantisation. |
Where the eye mixes them and thu
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between them and thu
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: them is \θem\ while thu is \θɨː\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67646, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
them is recorded at frequency rank #19,418, classified as averb, pronounced \θem\. thu is at rank #48,228, tagged as anoun, pronounced \θɨː\.
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 67646, this pair ranks #62,491 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of them vs thu
Shared letters: ht. Private to "them": em. Private to "thu": u.
"them" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "thu" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- them ← htem · tehm · themm · thhem · thme · tthem
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "them" and "thu" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "them" or "thu" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "them" and "thu" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "them" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "thu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #62,491 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "them" and "thu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thu vs tif". 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 #62,491 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.