Differences between Their and There

Their vs. There

Their and there are homophones in most English accents, which means they share the same pronunciation but have different meanings and spellings. Their is a possessive determiner, while there primarily functions as an adverb of place but also serves as a pronoun, noun, adjective, and interjection. The regular misuse of these words is a common error in English writing.

The word their indicates possession or belonging. It is the possessive form of the third-person plural pronoun they. For example: "The students left their books in the classroom." It can also be used in relation to a singular noun where the gender is unknown or not specified. There most commonly functions as an adverb to indicate a location, in contrast to "here". For example: "Please leave the package over there." Additionally, there is used as a pronoun to introduce a sentence or clause, as in: "There is a problem with the engine."

Comparison Table

Category	Their	There
Part of Speech	Possessive determiner (adjective)	Adverb, pronoun, noun, adjective, interjection
Primary Function	Shows ownership or possession	Indicates a place or location; introduces a sentence
Etymology	From Old Norse þeirra ("of them"), which replaced the Old English word hiera	From Old English þǣr ("in that place"), derived from a Proto-Germanic root
Example of Use	The artists signed their paintings.	Put the box there, on the floor.
Sentence Role	Modifies a noun to indicate it belongs to "them"	Can specify a location or act as an expletive (dummy subject) to start a sentence

Venn diagram comparing Differences between Their and There

Common confusion

Confusion between their and there occurs because the words are pronounced identically. The error is common among both native speakers and learners of English. The distinct origins of the words show how they developed separately before their pronunciations converged. The original Old English possessive, hiera, sounded nothing like the word for "at that place," þǣr. However, after Scandinavian settlement in England, the Old Norse possessive þaire was adopted into English, eventually becoming their, which led to the modern homophonic pairing.

A mnemonic to distinguish the two words is to recognize that there contains the word here, which also relates to location. Similarly, their contains the word heir, which relates to possession. Correct usage depends on identifying whether the sentence intends to show possession (their) or indicate a place or existence (there).