While writing an Email, article, Facebook post or Instagram story the most common mistake that people make is confusing ‘then’ with ‘than’ and vice versa.

Making this silly mistake in your writing could be embarrassing. Even though, both the words have the same pronunciation their usage is completely different.

After reading this article, your confusion about their usage would be cleared to some extent.

Difference between Then and Than

The difference between these homophones is mentioned below-

Than

Than is a conjunction or preposition that is used to compare or relate two entities. These entities could be absolutely anything like time, individuals, units or elements.

Remember, any sentence that has a comparison will have Than and it would join two parts of the sentence.

An example could be- Kate is smarter than Kelly

Then

Then has a number of usages but mostly it is used as either an adjective or an adverb.

It is an action word that specifies further events or what would happen next.

Then is either used at the start or end of a sentence.

An example could be- The parliament argued for three days then passed the bill.

How to remember this difference?

Now that you know what Then and Than means, the tricky part is to remember when to use them.

• The best way to remember the difference is to associate Then with time and Than with comparison.
• Another way to remember is both Then and time have E in them and both Than and comparison have A in them.
• You can never substitute Than but you can use any other word instead of Then.
• Then is associated with ‘when’ and Than is associated with ‘that.’ So ask questions with these two words to know what to use.

Here’s a small exercise for you, use either Then or Than to complete these sentences and share the answers in the comment section-

1. The leaf turned brown ____ the plant died.
2. The US is more developed ____ China.
3. I would rather sing ____ eat.
4. Nancy is taller ____ I.
5. Once I reach my goals ____ I’ll switch the company.
6. There is no better restaurant ____ this.
7. ____ I moved to Chennai for a new project.
8. Gold was cheaper back ____ .
9. Your skin looks better ____ mine.
10. Come over this evening, I’ll be ready ____.