Which to use
“three” is a num and “thyme” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #164
- “three” frequency rank
- #26,628
- “thyme” frequency rank
- 26792
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | three | thyme |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A numerical value after two and before four. Represented in Arabic digits as 3; this many dots (•••). | 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 three and thyme
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between three and thyme
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: three is /θɹiː/ while thyme is /taɪm/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (num vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26792, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
three is recorded at frequency rank #164, classified as anum, pronounced /θɹiː/. 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 26792, this pair ranks #384,038 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of three vs thyme
Shared letters: eht. Private to "three": r. Private to "thyme": my.
"three" · 5 letters · shape CCCVV · "thyme" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "three" for "thyme" ever safe?
Which is more common, "three" or "thyme"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "three" 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 #384,038 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "three" 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 #384,038 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.