Commonly confused words “their”, “there”, and “they’re” will all be replaced with the universal “ther” from next year, the Sydney Sentinel can reveal.

The move has been welcomed by frustrated teachers, many of whom have been pushing for the change since the late 1990s.

“Students never remember which one to use and I even find myself sneaking under the table for a quick peek of the Macquarie Dictionary every now and then,” said Mr Harrington, head of English at Maroubra High School. “This new word means students can spend class time learning instead of trying to work things out”.

After a quick survey of social media, experts have also nominated more than 20 other words for “simplification”, including “your”, “you’re”, “yore”, “where”, “wear”, “we’re”, “who” and “whom”.