Which to use
“then” is an adverb and “they” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,204
- “then” frequency rank
- #11,171
- “they” frequency rank
- 29375
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | then | they |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | então, aí. daí | pronome pessoal de terceira pessoa plural referente a um grupo de pessoas sem especificação de gênero; eles ou elas |
Letter map: then vs they
Shared letters muted; letters that set then and they apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Part-of-speech tell for then / they
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: then is anadverb and theyapronoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - n in “then” becomes y in “they”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29375, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
then is recorded at frequency rank #18,204, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈðɛn/. they is at rank #11,171, tagged as apron.
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 29375, this pair ranks #39,280 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of then vs they
Shared letters: eht. Private to "then": n. Private to "they": y.
"then" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "they" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "then" and "they" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "then" vs "they" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "then" and "they".
- Full dictionary entry for "then" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "they" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #39,280 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "then" and "they" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "then 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 #39,280 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.