Which to use
“till” is a preposition and “time” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,706
- “till” frequency rank
- #60
- “time” frequency rank
- 1766
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | till | time |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Until; to, up to; as late as (a given time). | The inevitable progression into the future with the passing of present and past events. |
Where the eye mixes till and time
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: till is /tɪl/ while time 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 (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1766, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
till is recorded at frequency rank #1,706, classified as aprep, pronounced /tɪl/. 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 1766, this pair ranks #526,712 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of till vs time
Shared letters: it. Private to "till": l. Private to "time": em.
"till" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "time" · 4 letters · shape CVCV