English homophones

t/te/tea/tee/ti

"t" is a character; "te" is a noun - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #2 of 1,007 English groups.

Data vintage

Grammar picks the spelling

Same sound, different grammar: "t" arrives as a character, while "te" is a noun. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

  • No shared spelling stem: "t" is 1 letters, "te" is 2; only the sound ties them.
  • No shared spelling stem: "t" is 1 letters, "tea" is 3; only the sound ties them.
  • No shared spelling stem: "t" is 1 letters, "tee" is 3; only the sound ties them.
  • No shared spelling stem: "t" is 1 letters, "ti" is 2; only the sound ties them.
  • Shared stem "te" then splits - "te" (2 letters) vs "tea" (3).
  • Shared stem "te" then splits - "te" (2 letters) vs "tee" (3).
  • Single-letter fork: "te" keeps e, "ti" writes i at letter 2.
  • Single-letter fork: "tea" keeps a, "tee" writes e at letter 3.
  • No shared spelling stem: "tea" is 3 letters, "ti" is 2; only the sound ties them.
  • No shared spelling stem: "tee" is 3 letters, "ti" is 2; only the sound ties them.

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across t, te, tea, tee, ti: t. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

  • t

    1 letters · 0 vowels · shape C

    Inventory t · no private letters vs siblings

  • te

    2 letters · 1 vowels · shape CV

    Inventory et · private e

  • tea

    3 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVV

    Inventory aet · private ae

  • tee

    3 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVV

    Inventory et · private e

  • ti

    2 letters · 1 vowels · shape CV

    Inventory it · private i

Pick the spelling from the meaning

  • Write "t" when you mean: The twentieth letter of the English alphabet, called tee and written in the Latin script.
  • Write "te" when you mean: In solfège, the seventh note of a major scale (the note B in the fixed-do system): ti.
  • Write "tea" when you mean: The tea plant (Camellia sinensis); (countable) a variety of this plant.
  • Write "tee" when you mean: The name of the Latin script letter T/t.
  • Write "ti" when you mean: A syllable used in solfège to represent the seventh note of a major scale.

Each spelling

t

character · /tiː/ · #361 frequency

The twentieth letter of the English alphabet, called tee and written in the Latin script.

te

noun · /tiː/ · #6,422 frequency

In solfège, the seventh note of a major scale (the note B in the fixed-do system): ti.

tea

noun · /tiː/ · #1,925 frequency

The tea plant (Camellia sinensis); (countable) a variety of this plant.

tee

noun · /ˈtiː/ · #9,407 frequency

The name of the Latin script letter T/t.

ti

noun · /tiː/ · #8,995 frequency

A syllable used in solfège to represent the seventh note of a major scale.

Nearby English homophone groups

What to do next

You've reviewed the 5-spelling cluster (t, te, tea, tee, ti). Here's where to go from here.

  • "t" is the most frequent headword in this 5-spelling cluster (rank #361 in English). Full entry
  • Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 5 spellings ranks #2 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
  • Explore a nearby 5-spelling cluster: done · Dunn · dun · Dunne · Donne. Nearby cluster
  • Grammar often disambiguates this cluster, match the meaning to the part of speech before picking a spelling. Pick by meaning

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list