Which to use
“thyme” and “time” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,628
- “thyme” frequency rank
- #60
- “time” frequency rank
- 26688
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | thyme | time |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | The inevitable progression into the future with the passing of present and past events. |
Same sound, different letters: thyme vs time
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - thyme / time
This is the hard kind. thyme and time are pronounced identically (/taɪm/) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26688, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
thyme is recorded at frequency rank #26,628, classified as anoun, pronounced /taɪm/. time is at rank #60, 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 26688, this pair ranks #384,812 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of thyme vs time
Shared letters: emt. Private to "thyme": hy. Private to "time": i.
"thyme" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "time" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "thyme" for "time" ever safe?
Frequency check: "thyme" vs "time" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "thyme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "time" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #384,812 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "thyme" and "time" 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 #384,812 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.