Which to use
“thorn” is a noun and “those” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,696
- “thorn” frequency rank
- #32,216
- “those” frequency rank
- 75912
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | thorn | those |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Lettre scandinave aujourd’hui uniquement en islandais, mais qui fut également utilisée par des langues mortes telles que l’anglo-saxon. Majuscule : Þ, minuscule : þ. | Adjectif démonstratif : ces … -là. |
Where the eye mixes thorn and those
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. thorn (CCVCC) and those (CCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between thorn and those
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: thorn is \tɔʁn\ while those is \ðəʊz\. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75912, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
thorn is recorded at frequency rank #43,696, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɔʁn\. 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 75912, this pair ranks #32,660 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of thorn vs those
Shared letters: hot. Private to "thorn": nr. Private to "those": es.
"thorn" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "those" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "thorn" for "those" ever safe?
Frequency check: "thorn" vs "those" - which ranks higher?
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 "thorn" 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 #32,660 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "thorn" and "those" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thorn vs Tora". 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 #32,660 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.