# theme

> English word · Noun · IPA /θiːm/ · frequency rank #2,411

## Definitions
1. A subject, now especially of a talk or an artistic piece; a topic.
2. A recurring idea; a motif.
3. A recurring idea; a motif.
4. An essay written for school.
5. The main melody of a piece of music, especially one that is the source of variations.
6. A song, or a snippet of a song, that identifies a film, a TV program, a character, etc. by playing at the appropriate time.
7. An additional puzzle within the crossword, typically involving a set of non-standard clues or answers.
8. The stem of a word.
9. Thematic relation of a noun phrase to a verb.
10. Theta role in generative grammar and government and binding theory.
11. Topic, what is generally being talked about.
12. A regional unit of organisation in the Byzantine empire.

## Etymology
From Middle English teme, from Old French teme, tesme (French thème), from Latin thema, from Ancient Greek θέμα (théma), from τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put, place”), reduplicative from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, do”) (whence also English do). Doublet of thema.

## Easily confused with
- **they** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/theme-vs-they)
- **time** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/theme-vs-time)
- **then** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/theme-vs-then)
- **tree** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/theme-vs-tree)
- **Theo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/theme-vs-theo)
- **tome** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/theme-vs-tome)
- **Thom** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/theme-vs-thom)
- **there** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/theme-vs-there)
- **these** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/theme-vs-these)
- **those** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/theme-vs-those)
- **three** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/theme-vs-three)
- **thumb** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/theme-vs-thumb)
- **thine** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/theme-vs-thine)
- **theta** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/theme-vs-theta)
- **thyme** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/theme-vs-thyme)
- **thump** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/theme-vs-thump)
- **Thule** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/theme-vs-thule)
- **themed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/theme-vs-themed)
- **theres** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/theme-vs-theres)
- **theses** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/theme-vs-theses)

## Common misspellings (7)
`hteme`, `tehme`, `theem`, `themme`, `thheme`, `thmee`, `ttheme`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/theme