Which to use
“they” is a pronoun and “três” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,171
- “they” frequency rank
- #167
- “três” frequency rank
- 11338
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | they | três |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | pronome pessoal de terceira pessoa plural referente a um grupo de pessoas sem especificação de gênero; eles ou elas | número equivalente a dois mais um; cardinalidade de um conjunto que contenha dois elementos e outro elemento distinto; representado pelo símbolo 3 (algarismos arábicos) ou III (algarismos romanos) |
Letter map: they vs três
Shared letters muted; letters that set they and três apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.
Role in the sentence - they and três
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: they is apronoun and trêsanum. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11338, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
they is recorded at frequency rank #11,171, classified as apron. três is at rank #167, tagged as anum, pronounced /ˈtɾeʃ/.
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 11338, this pair ranks #61,530 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of they vs três
Shared letters: t. Private to "they": ehy. Private to "três": rsê.
"they" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "três" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- they ← htey · tehy · theyy · thhey · thye · tthey
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "they" and "três" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "they" vs "três" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "they" and "três".
- Full dictionary entry for "they" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "três" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #61,530 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "they" and "três" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "teem vs they". 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 #61,530 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.