meantime
/ˈmiːntaɪm/
"meantime" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“meantime” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #6,710 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #6,710
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The time spent waiting for another event; time in between.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | meantime |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈmiːntaɪm/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #6,710 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “meantime” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for meantime is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈmiːntaɪm/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,710 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "The time spent waiting for another event; time in between.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for meantime, with forms such as "emantime", "maentime", and "meanitme". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English menetime, equivalent to mean + time. Adverb is by ellipsis from in the meantime. The correct English form is meantime, spelled M-E-A-N-T-I-M-E.
Definition
- 1The time spent waiting for another event; time in between.
Etymology
From Middle English menetime, equivalent to mean + time. Adverb is by ellipsis from in the meantime.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: emantime,maentime,meanitme,meanntime,meantiem,meantimme,meantmie,meanttime,meatnime,menatime,mmeantime
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of meantime - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “meantime”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-E-A-N-T-I-M-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈmiːntaɪm/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.