thisvsthoseConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#5,196
“this” frequency rank
#32,216
“those” frequency rank
37412
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature this those
Definition Ce … -ci, cette … -ci. Adjectif démonstratif : ces … -là.

Where the eye mixes this and those

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
this
5 ch
those

Visual trap between this and those

A purely visual mix-up. this (\ðɪs\) and those (\ðəʊz\) 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 37412, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

this is recorded at frequency rank #5,196, classified as anadj, pronounced \ðɪs\. those is at rank #32,216, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ðəʊz\.

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 37412, this pair ranks #262,694 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of this vs those

Shared letters: hst. Private to "this": i. Private to "those": eo.

"this" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "those" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • thishtis · thhis · thiss · thsi · tihs · tthis
  • thosehtose · thhose · thoes · thosse · thsoe · tohse · tthose

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "this" and "those" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ðɪs\ versus \ðəʊz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "this" or "those"?
"this" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,196 in our French list, against #32,216 for "those". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "this" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "those" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #262,694 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "this" and "those" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "those vs tos". 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 #262,694 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list