Which to use
“they” is a pronoun and “try” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,171
- “they” frequency rank
- #20,742
- “try” frequency rank
- 31913
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | they | try |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | pronome pessoal de terceira pessoa plural referente a um grupo de pessoas sem especificação de gênero; eles ou elas | tentativa |
Letter map: they vs try
Shared letters muted; letters that set they and try apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Grammar separator: they vs try
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: they is apronoun and tryanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31913, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
they is recorded at frequency rank #11,171, classified as apron. try is at rank #20,742, tagged as anoun, pronounced /traɪ/.
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 31913, this pair ranks #36,030 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of they vs try
Shared letters: ty. Private to "they": eh. Private to "try": r.
"they" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "try" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- they ← htey · tehy · theyy · thhey · thye · tthey
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "they" and "try" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "they" or "try"?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "they" and "try".
- Full dictionary entry for "they" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "try" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #36,030 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "they" and "try" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "til vs try". 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 #36,030 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.