Which to use
“they” is a pronoun and “tte” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,279
- “they” frequency rank
- #36,628
- “tte” frequency rank
- 49907
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | they | tte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pronom personnel sujet de la troisième personne du pluriel ; ils, elles, iels. | Toute. |
Where the eye mixes they and tte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between they and tte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: they is \ðeɪ\ while tte is \tut\. 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 (pronoun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49907, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
they is recorded at frequency rank #13,279, classified as apron, pronounced \ðeɪ\. tte is at rank #36,628, tagged as anadj, pronounced \tut\.
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 49907, this pair ranks #166,912 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of they vs tte
Shared letters: et. Private to "they": hy. Private to "tte": -.
"they" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "tte" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- they ← htey · tehy · theyy · thhey · thye · tthey
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "they" and "tte" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "they" or "tte" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "they" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #166,912 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "they" and "tte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tif vs tte". 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 #166,912 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.