Sometime or sometimes?
sometime is an adverb meaning “At an indefinite but stated time in the past or future”; sometimes is an adverb meaning “On some occasions, over some periods, or in certain circumstances, but not…”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) sometimes is about 13 times as common as sometime.
What is the difference between sometime and sometimes?
| sometime | sometimes | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adverb, adjective | adverb, adjective |
| Meaning | At an indefinite but stated time in the past or future Former, erstwhile; at some previous time Occasional; intermittent | On some occasions, over some periods, or in certain circumstances, but not always |
| Example | I'll see you at the pub sometime this evening | Sometimes I sit and think, but mostly I just sit |
| Pronunciation | /ˈsʌmˌtaɪm/ | /ˈsʌm.taɪmz/ |
| In writing | 14 times per million words | 191 times per million words |
Sources: sometime and sometimes 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 sometime and sometimes
sometime
- 1
At an indefinite but stated time in the past or future
I'll see you at the pub sometime this evening
- 2
Former, erstwhile; at some previous time
my sometime friend and mentor
- 3
Occasional; intermittent
an author and sometime lecturer
sometimes
- 1
On some occasions, over some periods, or in certain circumstances, but not always
Sometimes I sit and think, but mostly I just sit
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, sometime or sometimes?
sometime appears 14 times per million words; sometimes 191 times per million words.
sometime 14 times per million wordssometimes 191 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 sometime vs sometimes?
“sometime vs sometimes” is searched about 20 times a month on Bing (Google reports it together with close variants, so it has no figure of its own) in the United States.
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.