Than -Then

0 Yes, they are pronounced differently. 99.9% of the time 01i00than02i00 is unstressed (with a schwa for a vowel) and 01i00then02i00 is stressed.02br
02br
00 CJ0-

0many native speakers are confused and don't know how to spell "than", 02br
02br
00I wouldn't say that is a common problem?0-

0 Hi Nona,02br
00I've seen native speakers write "then" instead of "than". I found this, the title is "Some 01u01b00common02b02u00 grammar and usege mistakes in 01u01b00undergraduate02b02u00 philosophy papers"02br
01a05000 02a

0 Yup, it's true. They are often mispelled. Although many people do actually distinguish them in speech, the difference seems to be too subtle for most people, so they actually have to learn the definition of "then" and "than" in order to spell it correctly. But, surprisingly enough, most people do say them distinctly, as Califjim said.0-

0That is quite surprising. (mind you, we are talking about Americans here...05000 hope Grammar Geek doesn't see this)010id4

0 01i00"...shee hath more haire then wit, and more02br
00 faults then haires, and more wealth then faults..."02i02br
02br
00I think it must have been Shakespeare who started all the confusion between 'then' and 'than'... 050010id4

0 01blockquote

01cite10Yankee12cite11i10"...shee hath more haire then wit, and more12br
10 faults then haires, and more wealth then faults..."12i12br
12br
10I think it must have been Shakespeare who started all the confusion between 'then' and 'than'... 15112br
12blockquote

10

0 Maybe some Californians tend to confuse them more than the others. Maybe because the e in "then" tends toward a stressed a in "than", and the unstressed a in than (schwa) tends toward the e in "then". I'm not sure of that shift, but I'm sure Marvin knows of something similar.0-