timer vs times, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“timer” and “times” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#11,625
“timer” frequency rank: #250
“times” frequency rank: 11875
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	timer	times
Definition	Agent noun of time: someone or something that times.	plural of time

Where the eye mixes timer and times

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch

timer

5 ch

times

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. timer (/ˈtaɪmɚ/) and times (/taɪmz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - r in “timer” becomes s in “times”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11875, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

timer is recorded at frequency rank #11,625, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtaɪmɚ/. times is at rank #250, tagged as anoun, pronounced /taɪmz/.

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 11875, this pair ranks #484,647 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of timer vs times

Shared letters: eimt. Private to "timer": r. Private to "times": s.

"timer" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "times" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

timer ← itmer · tiemr · timerr · timmer · timre · tmier · ttimer
times ← itmes · tiems · timess · timmes · timse · tmies · ttimes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "timer" and "times" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ˈtaɪmɚ/ versus /taɪmz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "timer" or "times"?

"times" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #250 in our English list, against #11,625 for "timer". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "timer" and "times". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "timer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "times" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #484,647 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"timer" and "times" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Tigger vs timer". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.