thy vs thyme, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“thy” is a determiner and “thyme” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,014
“thy” frequency rank: #26,628
“thyme” frequency rank: 32642
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	thy	thyme
Definition	Possessive form of thou: that which belongs to thee; which belongs to you (singular).	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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set thy and thyme apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

thy

5 ch

thyme

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

thy and thyme form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “thy” sits inside “thyme” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32642, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

thy is recorded at frequency rank #6,014, classified as adet, pronounced /ðaɪ/. 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 32642, this pair ranks #336,138 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Frequency comparison

thy#6,014

thyme#26,628

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "thy" and "thyme" be used interchangeably?

No, "thy" and "thyme" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering thy vs thyme

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a determiner, it's “thy”; for a noun, it's “thyme”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “thy” entry
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