tapvsthanWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: tap is a noun, than is a conjunction, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tap” is a noun and “than” is a conjunction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,172
“tap” frequency rank
#13,187
“than” frequency rank
35359
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tap than
Definition torneira que (usado em comparações)

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tap and than apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
tap
4 ch
than

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tap is anoun and thanaconjunction. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35359, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tap is recorded at frequency rank #22,172, classified as anoun, pronounced /tæp/. than is at rank #13,187, tagged as aconj.

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 35359, this pair ranks #31,696 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tap vs than

Shared letters: at. Private to "tap": p. Private to "than": hn.

"tap" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "than" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • thanhtan · tahn · thann · thhan · thna · tthan

Frequency comparison

tap#22,172
than#13,187

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tap" and "than" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tap" is a noun and "than" a conjunction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tap" or "than"?
"than" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,187 in our Portuguese list, against #22,172 for "tap". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering tap vs than

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “tap”; for a conjunction, it's “than”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tap” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list