Tire or tyre?
In American English write tire; in British and Commonwealth English, tyre. tire is a verb meaning “To become sleepy or weary”; tyre is a noun meaning “The ring-shaped protective covering around a wheel which is usually made of…”. They sound the same (/ˈtaɪ̯ə(ɹ)/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) tire is about 3.2 times as common as tyre.
What is the difference between tire and tyre?
| tire | tyre | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun | noun, verb |
| Meaning | To become sleepy or weary To make sleepy or weary US and Canada spelling of tyre: The rubber covering on a wheel | The ring-shaped protective covering around a wheel which is usually made of rubber or plastic composite and is either pneumatic or solid The metal rim, or metal covering on a rim, of a (wooden or metal) wheel, usually of steel or formerly wrought iron, as found on (horse-drawn or railway)… To fit tyres to (a vehicle) |
| Example | I tire of this book | pneumatic tyres |
| Forms | tires, tiring, tired | tyres |
| Pronunciation | /ˈtaɪ̯ə(ɹ)/ /ˈtaɪ̯ɚ/ [ˈtʰaɪ̯ɚ] | /taɪə(ɹ)/ |
| Region | US | no label |
| In writing | 10 times per million words | 3.2 times per million words |
Sources: tire and tyre 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 tire and tyre
tire
- 1
To become sleepy or weary
- 2
US and Canada spelling of tyre: The rubber covering on a wheel
- 3
A tier, row, or rank
- 4
To make sleepy or weary
- 5
USUS spelling of tyre: The metal rim of a wheel, especially that of a railroad locomotive
- 6
To become bored or impatient (with)
I tire of this book
- 7
A child's apron covering the upper part of the body, and tied with tape or cord; a pinafore. Also tier
- 8
To bore
tyre
- 1
The ring-shaped protective covering around a wheel which is usually made of rubber or plastic composite and is either pneumatic or solid
pneumatic tyres
- 2
To fit tyres to (a vehicle)
- 3
IndiaCurdled milk
- 4
The metal rim, or metal covering on a rim, of a (wooden or metal) wheel, usually of steel or formerly wrought iron, as found on (horse-drawn or railway) carriages and wagons and on locomotives
iron tyres for the coach and iron shoes for the horse
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, tire or tyre?
tire appears 10 times per million words; tyre 3.2 times per million words.
tire 10 times per million wordstyre 3.2 times per 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 tire vs tyre?
“tire vs tyre” is searched about 590 times a month on Google and 30 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“tyre vs tire”, “tire or tyre”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.