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PlainSpell

tide

/taɪd/noun, verb

tide is spelled T-I-D-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,565th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, tide means “The daily fluctuation in the level of the sea caused by the gravitational influence of the moon and the sun” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of tide is tides.

How many letters and syllables are in tide?

Letters4: T-I-D-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing11 times per million words; the 6,565th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is tide?

Tide appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,565th 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 tide?

  • US /taɪd/
  • British /tɑjd/
  • Australia [tɑed]

Tide has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-tide.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with tide

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

tide vs tied0 B

Sounds like: tied (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with tide?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as tide from its last stressed vowel (/aɪd/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: diet, tied, edit, dite.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of tide

  • tides plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • tiding participle, present
  • tided participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does tide mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The daily fluctuation in the level of the sea caused by the gravitational influence of the moon and the sun.

    The Bristol Channel has some of the world's largest tides.

  2. 2

    The associated flow of water.

    A lot of driftwood was brought in on the tide.

  3. 3

    Any similar gravitational effect on Earth or other body.

    As well as sea tides, there are much smaller land tides.

  4. 4

    A high-volume flow, literal or figurative; a current or flood.

    The sewer burst, and a tide of sewage poured into nearby properties.

  5. 5

    The tendency or direction of causes, influences, or events; course; current.

    The tide of public opinion has turned.

  6. 6

    obsoleteTime, notably anniversary, period or season linked to an ecclesiastical feast.

  7. 7

    archaicA time.

    The doctor's no good this tide.

  8. 8

    archaicA point or period of time identified or described by a qualifier.

    Eventide, noontide, morrowtide, nighttide, moontide, harvesttide, wintertide, summertide, springtide, autumntide etc.

verb

  1. 1

    To cause to float with the tide; to drive or carry with the tide or stream.

  2. 2

    To carry over or through a problem or difficulty.

  3. 3

    rareTo pour a tide or flood.

    The ocean tided most impressively.

  4. 4

    To work into or out of a river or harbor by drifting with the tide and anchoring when it becomes adverse.

  5. 5

    obsoleteTo happen, occur.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Tide in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmarée (periodic change of sea level – see also flood…), tendance (tendency or direction of causes, influences or…)
GermanGezeiten, Tide (periodic change of sea level – see also flood…), Trend, Lauf (tendency or direction of causes, influences or…), Strom, Strömung (current, stream, flood)
Portuguesemaré (periodic change of sea level – see also flood…)
Spanishmarea (periodic change of sea level – see also flood…)

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 tide come from?

Inherited from Middle English tyde, from Old English tīd, from Proto-West Germanic *tīdi, from Proto-Germanic *tīdiz, from Proto-Indo-European *déh₂itis, from *deh₂y- + *-tis. Related to time.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after tide