Which to use
“thumb” and “thyme” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,071
- “thumb” frequency rank
- #26,628
- “thyme” frequency rank
- 33699
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | thumb | thyme |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The shortest and thickest digit of the hand that for humans has the most mobility and can be made to oppose (moved to touch) all of the other fingers. | 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 thumb and thyme
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: thumb vs thyme
A purely visual mix-up. thumb (/θʌm/) and thyme (/taɪm/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33699, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
thumb is recorded at frequency rank #7,071, classified as anoun, pronounced /θʌm/. 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 33699, this pair ranks #327,143 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of thumb vs thyme
Shared letters: hmt. Private to "thumb": bu. Private to "thyme": ey.
"thumb" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "thyme" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "thumb" for "thyme" ever safe?
Which is more common, "thumb" or "thyme"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "thumb" 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 #327,143 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "thumb" 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 #327,143 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.