stripe
/stɹaɪp/
"stripe" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“stripe” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #14,846 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #14,846
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A long region of a single colour in a repeating pattern of similar regions.
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 | stripe |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /stɹaɪp/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #14,846 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “stripe” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for stripe is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /stɹaɪp/. Corpus data places it at rank #14,846 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for stripe, with forms such as "srtipe", "sstripe", and "stirpe". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "swipe", "stroke", "strips", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English stripe, strype, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German strîpe, from Proto-West Germanic *strīpā, *strīpō, from Proto-Germanic *strīpô. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Striepe (“stripe, strip”), West Frisian stripe (“stripe”), Dutch streep… The correct English form is stripe, spelled S-T-R-I-P-E.
Definition
- 1A long region of a single colour in a repeating pattern of similar regions.
- 2A long, relatively straight region against a different coloured background.
- 3The badge worn by certain officers in the military or other forces.
- 4Distinguishing characteristic; sign; likeness; sort.
- 5A long, narrow mark left by striking someone with a whip or stick; a blow or lash with a whip, stick, or scourge.
- 6A slash cut into the flesh as a punishment.
- 7A pattern produced by arranging the warp threads in sets of alternating colours, or in sets presenting some other contrast of appearance.
- 8Any of the balls marked with stripes in the game of pool, which one player aims to pot, the other player taking the spots.
- 9A portion of data distributed across several separate physical disks for the sake of redundancy.
- 10The start/finish line.
Etymology
From Middle English stripe, strype, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German strîpe, from Proto-West Germanic *strīpā, *strīpō, from Proto-Germanic *strīpô. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Striepe (“stripe, strip”), West Frisian stripe (“stripe”), Dutch streep (“stripe”), German Low German Striepe, Striep, Streep (“stripe”), German Streifen (“stripe, strip, band”), Danish stribe (“stripe”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: srtipe,sstripe,stirpe,striep,strippe,strpie,strripe,sttripe,tsripe
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of stripe - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "stripe"?
What does "stripe" mean?
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Using “stripe”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-R-I-P-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /stɹaɪp/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “swipe” - see the side-by-side comparison. stripe vs swipe
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.