Tree or trie?
tree is a noun meaning “A perennial woody plant taller and larger than a shrub with a wooden trunk and…”; trie is a noun meaning “An ordered tree data structure that is used to store an associative array where…”. They sound the same (/tɹiː/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) tree is about 603 times as common as trie.
What is the difference between tree and trie?
| tree | trie | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb, number | noun |
| Meaning | A perennial woody plant taller and larger than a shrub with a wooden trunk and, at some distance from the ground, having leaves and branches Any other plant (such as a large shrub or herb) that is reminiscent of the above in form and size To chase (an animal or person) up a tree | An ordered tree data structure that is used to store an associative array where the keys are usually strings |
| Example | Hyperion is the tallest living tree in the world | none recorded |
| Forms | trees | tries |
| Pronunciation | /tɹiː/ [t̠ʰɹʷiː] [t͡ʃʰɹʷiː] | /ˈtɹiː/ /ˈtɹaɪ̯/ /ˈtɹi.eɪ̯/ |
| In writing | 71 times per million words | about once in every 9 million words |
Sources: tree and trie in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of tree and trie
tree
- 1
A perennial woody plant taller and larger than a shrub with a wooden trunk and, at some distance from the ground, having leaves and branches
Hyperion is the tallest living tree in the world
- 2
To chase (an animal or person) up a tree
The dog treed the cat
- 3
colloquialPronunciation spelling of three
- 4
An extremely fast-growing function based on Kruskal's tree theorem
- 5
Alternative letter-case form of TREE
- 6
Any other plant (such as a large shrub or herb) that is reminiscent of the above in form and size
The banana tree is a tall perennial herb: its trunk is not woody
- 7
To place in a tree
Black bears can tree their cubs for protection, but grizzly bears cannot
- 8
An object made from a tree trunk and having multiple hooks or storage platforms
He had the choice of buying a scratching post or a cat tree
trie
- 1
An ordered tree data structure that is used to store an associative array where the keys are usually strings
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, tree or trie?
tree appears 71 times per million words; trie about once in every 9 million words.
tree 71 times per million wordstrie about once in every 9 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).