sometimes
some·times/ˈsʌm.taɪmz/adverb
sometimes is spelled S-O-M-E-T-I-M-E-S, 2 syllables: some·times. The wrong spelling people search most is somtimes: about 20 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 53 of all searches for the word. Sometimes is an adverb meaning “On some occasions, over some periods, or in certain circumstances, but not always”.
How many letters and syllables are in sometimes?
| Letters | 9: S-O-M-E-T-I-M-E-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: some·times |
| In writing | 191 times per million words; the 531st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, somtimes, about 20 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell sometimes?
Sometimes is spelled S-O-M-E-T-I-M-E-S. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 54 of the searches for sometimes in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is sometimes?
Sometimes appears 191 times per million words in written English, the 531st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce sometimes?
- /ˈsʌm.taɪmz/
Sometimes has 2 syllables, split some·times in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-sometimes.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with sometimes
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of sometimes
- sts.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sometimes mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
On some occasions, over some periods, or in certain circumstances, but not always.
Sometimes I sit and think, but mostly I just sit.
- 2
obsoleteOn a certain occasion in the past; once.
adjective
- 1
obsoleteFormer; sometime.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate sometimes?
Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of sometimes: s.t., sts..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sometimes in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense on certain occasions, but not always:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | parfois, quelquefois, des fois, tantôt |
| German | manchmal |
| Portuguese | às vezes |
| Spanish | a veces, algunas veces, a las [de] veces, a la de veces, de vez en cuando |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does sometimes come from?
From Middle English sumtymes, somtymes, som tymes, equivalent to sometime + -s (adverbial suffix). Compare West Frisian somstiden (“sometimes”), Dutch somtijds, somwijlen (“sometimes”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).