telephone

/ˈtɛl.ɪˌfəʊn/

//ˈtɛl.ɪˌfəʊn// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"telephone" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“telephone” has 13 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,587. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,587
frequency rank, English
27,828
“T” headwords
13
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A telecommunication device (originally mechanical, and now electronic) used for two-way talking with another person (now often shortened to phone).

Corpus desk

Index EN-telephone · telephone · English

telephone · rank #3,587 · 13 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,587
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 27,828
  • PHOTO-FINISH stolen

Nearest frequency peer: stolen (-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 “telephone”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “telephone” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of May 6, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

telephone vs telephony
89% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for telephone
PropertyValue
Headwordtelephone
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈtɛl.ɪˌfəʊn/
Letters9
Frequency rank#3,587
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “telephone” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). telephone lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around telephone (IPA /ˈtɛl.ɪˌfəʊn/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #3,587 among 27,828 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for telephone, with forms such as "etlephone", "teelphone", and "telehpone". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "telephony", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: First used by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 to refer to the modern instrument, but previous devices had been given this name, which was borrowed from French téléphone. Ultimately from Ancient Greek τῆλε (têle, “afar”) + φωνή (phōnḗ, “voice, sound”). The correct English form is telephone, spelled T-E-L-E-P-H-O-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A telecommunication device (originally mechanical, and now electronic) used for two-way talking with another person (now often shortened to phone).
  2. 2
    The receiver of such a device.
  3. 3
    The game of Chinese whispers.
  4. 4
    Chinese whispers; a situation in which an initial message has been distorted and misunderstood by being passed from person to person.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how telephone appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. And since the spring of 1995, no game of telephone has ended without some Simpsons-loving smart-ass dropping “purple monkey dishwasher” into the chain.
  2. In other words, Jones' career and life may have been derailed because a game of telephone went bad.

Etymology

First used by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 to refer to the modern instrument, but previous devices had been given this name, which was borrowed from French téléphone. Ultimately from Ancient Greek τῆλε (têle, “afar”) + φωνή (phōnḗ, “voice, sound”).

This word in other languages

teléfono(Español)téléphone(Français)Telefon(Deutsch)telefone(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • etlephone
  • teelphone
  • telehpone
  • telephhone
  • telephnoe
  • telephoen
  • telephonne
  • telepohne
  • telepphone
  • tellephone
  • telpehone
  • tleephone
  • ttelephone

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of telephone - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

etlephone2teelphone2telehpone2telephhone1telephnoe2telephoen2telephonne1telepohne2
Edit distance from "telephone"

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 May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "telephone"?
"telephone" is spelled T-E-L-E-P-H-O-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈtɛl.ɪˌfəʊn/.
What does "telephone" mean?
As a noun, "telephone" means: A telecommunication device (originally mechanical, and now electronic) used for two-way talking with another person (now often shortened to phone).
What words are commonly confused with "telephone"?
"telephone" is commonly confused with "telephony". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "telephone"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "telephone" is /ˈtɛl.ɪˌfəʊn/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "telephone"?
First used by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 to refer to the modern instrument, but previous devices had been given this name, which was borrowed from French téléphone. Ultimately from Ancient Greek τῆλε (têle, “afar”) + φωνή (phōnḗ, “voice, sound”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "telephone", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

abandoned#3,594promotion#3,578Alexander#3,597contracts#3,611

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

presents13 variantsevolution13 variantsengineers13 variantsdowntown13 variants
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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list