Which to use
“Thames” is a name and “thyme” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,780
- “Thames” frequency rank
- #26,628
- “thyme” frequency rank
- 37408
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Thames | thyme |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A river in southern England, flowing 336 km (209 mi.) from Gloucestershire, through Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey and Greater London, and between Essex and Kent to the Thames Estuary and North Sea. | Any plant of the labiate genus Thymus, such as garden thyme (Thymus vulgaris), a warm, pungent aromatic, that is much used to give a relish to seasoning and soups. |
Where the eye mixes Thames and thyme
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Thames with thyme
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Thames is /tɛmz/ while thyme is /taɪm/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37408, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Thames is recorded at frequency rank #10,780, classified as aname, pronounced /tɛmz/. thyme is at rank #26,628, tagged as anoun, pronounced /taɪm/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 37408, this pair ranks #294,821 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Thames vs thyme
Shared letters: ehmt. Private to "Thames": as. Private to "thyme": y.
"Thames" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "thyme" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Thames" for "thyme" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "Thames" or "thyme" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Thames" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "thyme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #294,821 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Thames" and "thyme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thyme vs thymus". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #294,821 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.