Over time or overtime?
over time is a prepositional phrase meaning “From a historic or evolutionary perspective”; overtime is a noun meaning “Working time outside of one's regular hours”. Use over time as a prepositional phrase and overtime as a noun. over time is written as two words and overtime as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between over time and overtime?
| over time | overtime | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | prepositional phrase, verb | noun, adverb, verb |
| Meaning | From a historic or evolutionary perspective Occurring gradually, as the time passes | Working time outside of one's regular hours The rate of pay, usually higher, for work done outside of or in addition to regular hours Exceeding regular working hours |
| Example | "This graph shows the population of California over time." | Workers are usually paid extra for working overtime |
| Forms | over-times, over-timing, over-timed | overtimes |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /ˈəʊ.və.taɪm/ /ˈoʊ.vɚˌtaɪm/ |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | 8.7 times per million words |
Sources: over time and overtime in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of over time and overtime
over time
- 1
From a historic or evolutionary perspective
"This graph shows the population of California over time."
- 2
Occurring gradually, as the time passes
overtime
- 1
Working time outside of one's regular hours
Workers are usually paid extra for working overtime
- 2
Exceeding regular working hours
- 3
To measure something incorrectly, as taking more time than it actually did
- 4
The rate of pay, usually higher, for work done outside of or in addition to regular hours
- 5
Beyond the normal or usual extent
- 6
USAn extra period of play when a contest has a tie score at the end of regulation
That last-second shot ties the game 99-99 and sends it to overtime!
- 7
USExtra laps after the set race length of laps or time, to allow for a green-white-checkered finish
- 8
A period of time longer than scheduled
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, over time or overtime?
over time is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; overtime 8.7 times per million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search over time vs overtime?
“over time vs overtime” is searched about 880 times a month on Google and 30 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“overtime vs over time”, “over time or overtime”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.