Which to use
“the” is an article and “there” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #93
- “the” frequency rank
- #9,584
- “there” frequency rank
- 9677
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | the | there |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | o (artigo definido masculino singular) | aí, nesse local (perto do interlocutor): |
Where the eye mixes the and there
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: the vs there
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: the is /ðə/ (fraco, ou antes de consoante); /ðiː/ (enfático, ou antes de vogal) while there is /ˈðɛɹ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “the” sits inside “there”, and the parts of speech differ too (article vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9677, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
the is recorded at frequency rank #93, classified as anarticle, pronounced /ðə/ (fraco, ou antes de consoante); /ðiː/ (enfático, ou antes de vogal). there is at rank #9,584, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈðɛɹ/.
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 9677, this pair ranks #63,680 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of the vs there
Shared letters: eht. Private to "the": -. Private to "there": r.
"the" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "there" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- there ← htere · tehre · theer · therre · thhere · three · tthere
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "the" and "there" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "the" or "there" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "the" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "there" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #63,680 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "the" and "there" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "there vs thorn". 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 #63,680 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.