telephone number

noun

"telephone-number" is a 15-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“telephone number” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
16
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The sequence of digits used to identify a particular destination telephone in a network.

Key facts for telephone number
PropertyValue
Headwordtelephone number
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters16
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “telephone number” sits in English frequency

telephone number falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

telephone number is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for telephone number in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is telephone number, spelled T-E-L-E-P-H-O-N-E- -N-U-M-B-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    The sequence of digits used to identify a particular destination telephone in a network.
  2. 2
    A large number.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "telephone number"?
"telephone number" is spelled T-E-L-E-P-H-O-N-E- -N-U-M-B-E-R.
What does "telephone number" mean?
As a noun, "telephone number" means: The sequence of digits used to identify a particular destination telephone in a network.
What language does "telephone number" come from?
"telephone number" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Using “telephone number”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is T-E-L-E-P-H-O-N-E- -N-U-M-B-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list