Tim
/tɪm/
"tim" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Tim” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #2,971) as a proper noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #2,971
- frequency rank, English
- 3,151
- “T” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A diminutive of the male given names Timothy or Timon (rare).
Corpus desk
Index EN-tim · Tim · English
Tim · rank #2,971 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #2,971
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,151
- PHOTO-FINISH tie
Nearest frequency peer: tie (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “Tim”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- swear
swear
97,033 corpus weight
- tie
tie
97,031 corpus weight
- Tim
Tim
97,030 corpus weight
- trend
trend
97,029 corpus weight
- valuable
valuable
97,028 corpus weight
- wealth
wealth
97,027 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “Tim” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Tim |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /tɪm/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #2,971 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Tim” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for Tim is neighbouring look-alikes ("to", "TV", …), not just typos; it is aproper noun pronounced /tɪm/. Frequency #2,971 among 3,151 “T” headwords. Gloss: "A diminutive of the male given names Timothy or Timon (rare).".
Zero misspellings are on record for Tim in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "to", "TV", "TL", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is Tim, spelled T-I-M.
Definition
- 1A diminutive of the male given names Timothy or Timon (rare).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how Tim appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan is stepping down effective immediately as the bank struggles to overcome a litany of scandals.
On the invitation list: Govs. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Tim Walz of Minnesota, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Tony Evers of Wisconsin, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Wes Moore of Maryland and Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "Tim"?
What does "Tim" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "Tim"?
How do you pronounce "Tim"?
What language does "Tim" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Tim", not the corpus desk frequency band.
What to do next
You've looked up "Tim". Here's where to go from here.
- "Tim" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "to". View pair
- Usage frequency rank #2,971 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "T" letter cohort. T–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.