timesvstreesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#250
“times” frequency rank
#2,093
“trees” frequency rank
2343
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature times trees
Definition plural of time plural of tree

Where the eye mixes times and trees

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
times
5 ch
trees

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. times (/taɪmz/) and trees (/tɹiːz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2343, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

times is recorded at frequency rank #250, classified as anoun, pronounced /taɪmz/. trees is at rank #2,093, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɹiːz/.

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 2343, this pair ranks #525,221 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of times vs trees

Shared letters: est. Private to "times": im. Private to "trees": r.

"times" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "trees" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • timesitmes · tiems · timess · timmes · timse · tmies · ttimes
  • treesrtees · teres · treess · trese · trrees · ttrees

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "times" and "trees" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/taɪmz/ versus /tɹiːz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "times" or "trees"?
"times" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #250 in our English list, against #2,093 for "trees". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list