Tie or tye?
tie is a noun meaning “A knot; a fastening”; tye is a noun meaning “A chain or rope, one end of which passes through the mast, and is made fast to…”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) tie is about 60 times as common as tye.
What is the difference between tie and tye?
| tie | tye | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | noun |
| Meaning | A knot; a fastening A knot of hair, as at the back of a wig To twist (a string, rope, or the like) around itself securely | A chain or rope, one end of which passes through the mast, and is made fast to the center of a yard; the other end is attached to a tackle, by means of which… A trough for washing ores UKA patch of common land, often a village green |
| Example | Oxford ties; Derby ties | none recorded |
| Forms | ties | tyes |
| Pronunciation | /taɪ/ /təɪ/ /toɪ/ | not recorded |
| In writing | 32 times per million words | about once in every 2 million words |
Sources: tie and tye in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of tie and tye
tie
- 1
A knot; a fastening
- 2
To twist (a string, rope, or the like) around itself securely
Tie this rope in a knot for me, please
- 3
A knot of hair, as at the back of a wig
- 4
To form (a knot or the like) in a string or the like
Tie a knot in this rope for me, please
- 5
A necktie (item of clothing consisting of a strip of cloth tied around the neck). See also bow tie, black tie
- 6
To attach or fasten (one thing to another) by string or the like
Tie him to the tree
- 7
A lace-up shoe
Oxford ties; Derby ties
- 8
To secure (something) by string or the like
Tie your shoes
tye
- 1
A chain or rope, one end of which passes through the mast, and is made fast to the center of a yard; the other end is attached to a tackle, by means of which the yard is hoisted or lowered
- 2
A trough for washing ores
- 3
UKA patch of common land, often a village green
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, tie or tye?
tie appears 32 times per million words; tye about once in every 2 million words.
tie 32 times per million wordstye about once in every 2 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search tie vs tye?
“tie vs tye” is searched about 390 times a month on Google and 30 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“tye vs tie”, “tie or tye”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.