“She’s taller then her brother.”
‘Then’ places things in time. No time is being discussed here.
Confusables Entry 06 / 1605 60-second read Everyday
Then vs. Than
Time versus comparison — two different jobs, one letter apart.
The comparisoni
“She’s taller than her brother.”
‘Than’ is used to compare.
More examplesii
01
This year is worse then last.
This year is worse than last.
Comparing two years — that’s ‘than.’
02
First we ate, than we danced.
First we ate, then we danced.
A sequence in time — that’s ‘then.’
The ruleiii
¶
THAN compares. THEN is time.
If you’re measuring one thing against another, use THAN. If you mean ‘next’ or ‘at that time,’ use THEN.
Notesiv
Origin
Both come from the same Old English word *þonne* — used for both ‘at that time’ and ‘compared with.’ The split into THEN (time) and THAN (comparison) only stabilised in the 1700s, which is why they still feel like the same word.
Register
Universal, and one of the most common autocorrect-resistant mistakes in writing.
Watch for
‘Different than’ (common in American English) versus ‘different from’ (preferred in British English) — both are comparisons, so both use than/from, never ‘then.’
Memory aidv
Remember it like this
ThAn = compAre. ThEn = timE.
A bit of historyvi
Old English þonne split into modern then (for time) and than (for comparison) gradually between roughly 1500 and 1750. Samuel Johnson's 1755 Dictionary treats them as separate entries; by then the spelling distinction was firm in printed English. Spoken English never fully separated them — than in casual speech is often pronounced identically to then, which keeps the confusion alive when speakers transcribe their own thinking onto the page.
In the wildvii
Real-world-style usage — how this looks in a sentence people would actually write.
- She is sharper than her résumé let on — and a better writer than most of her peers.
- If you finish by Friday, then we’ll ship the release on Monday.
Spottedviii
Specimens from the editorial inbox — lines that did, in fact, get published.
“Better late then never.”
— A retail promotional email subject line, seen across inboxes 2021
“The new model is faster then the one it replaces.”
— A consumer-tech product page, 2022
Test yourselfix
Which is right?
Quick duel 4 questions · ~30 seconds
Which is right?