tha vs than, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#38,931
“tha” frequency rank: #13,187
“than” frequency rank: 52118
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	tha	than
Definition	presente do verbo bi (ser, estar); sou/estou, é/está, somos/estamos, são/estão	que (usado em comparações)

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tha and than apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

tha

4 ch

than

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tha is averb and thanaconjunction. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “tha” sits inside “than”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52118, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tha is recorded at frequency rank #38,931, classified as averb, pronounced /ha/. 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 52118, this pair ranks #13,019 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tha vs than

Shared letters: aht. Private to "tha": -. Private to "than": n.

"tha" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "than" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

than ← htan · tahn · thann · thhan · thna · tthan

Frequency comparison

tha#38,931

than#13,187

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tha" and "than" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tha" is a verb and "than" a conjunction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "tha" or "than"?

"than" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,187 in our Portuguese list, against #38,931 for "tha". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering tha vs than

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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