4 ms·

I know a lot of Americans from all over the place and have never met one who pronounces those two words the same. At least not in the same way "pen" and "pin"

• jcranmer 9y ago
  "than" is usually unstressed, which means it's going to be largely reduced to a schwa. "then" would also be reduced to a schwa if it were unstressed, but it doesn't seem to be as frequently unstressed. When trying to transcribe the spoken thought to written text, the unstressed schwa is a lot closer to the 'e' in then than the 'a' in than, which probably explains the predilection for choosing "then" when "than" is meant. (I know I have a major tendency to write "then" when "than" is meant).
  • ghaff 9y ago
    I would never have said they were homonyms. That said, they're probably closer for people speaking with a bit of a Southern drawl than they would be with standard American pronunciation.
• gervase 9y ago
  I'm born and raised in Los Angeles, and it's a homophone for me; you can add me as a data point to your pool.