trace

/tɹeɪs/

//tɹeɪs// noun

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

"trace" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“trace” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #5,277. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#5,277
frequency rank, English
3,151
“T” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An act of tracing.

Corpus desk

Index EN-trace · trace · English

trace · rank #5,277 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #5,277
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,151
  • PHOTO-FINISH tobacco

Nearest frequency peer: tobacco (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “trace”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “trace” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

trace vs tre
60% similar
trace vs true
60% similar
trace vs tree
60% similar

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

Key facts for trace
PropertyValue
Headwordtrace
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/tɹeɪs/
Letters5
Frequency rank#5,277
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “trace”

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

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “tobacco” (#5,276), “threatening” (#5,275), “turner” (#5,279). Among 3,151 “T” headwords, “trace” is #5,277. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around trace (IPA /tɹeɪs/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #5,277 among 3,151 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 15 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for trace, with forms such as "rtace", "tarce", and "tracce". 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, "tre", "true", "tree", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English trace, traas, from Old French trace (“an outline, track, trace”), from the verb (see below). The correct English form is trace, spelled T-R-A-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    An act of tracing.
  2. 2
    An enquiry sent out for a missing article, such as a letter or an express package.
  3. 3
    A mark left as a sign of passage of a person or animal.
  4. 4
    A very small amount, often residual, of some substance or material.
  5. 5
    A very small amount, often residual, of some substance or material.
  6. 6
    A current-carrying conductive pathway on a printed circuit board.
  7. 7
    An informal road or prominent path in an arid area.
  8. 8
    One of two straps, chains, or ropes of a harness, extending from the collar or breastplate to a whippletree attached to a vehicle or thing to be drawn; a tug.
  9. 9
    A connecting bar or rod, pivoted at each end to the end of another piece, for transmitting motion, especially from one plane to another; specifically, such a piece in an organ stop action to transmit motion from the trundle to the lever actuating the stop slider.
  10. 10
    The ground plan of a work or works.
  11. 11
    The intersection of a plane of projection, or an original plane, with a coordinate plane.
  12. 12
    The sum of the diagonal elements of a square matrix.
  13. 13
    An empty category occupying a position in the syntactic structure from which something has been moved, used to explain constructions such as wh-movement and the passive.
  14. 14
    A sequence of instructions, including branches but not loops, that is executed for some input data.
  15. 15
    A signifier approximated in the absence of stable signified.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Your cell phone company can put a trace on your line.
  2. Those are the times you write it off, experience / Walk away, and leave no trace / Cause that night, love had no face

Etymology

From Middle English trace, traas, from Old French trace (“an outline, track, trace”), from the verb (see below).

This word in other languages

calcar(Español)trace(Français)aufzeichnen(Deutsch)vestígio(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • rtace
  • tarce
  • tracce
  • traec
  • trcae
  • trrace
  • ttrace

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of trace - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

rtace2tarce2tracce1traec2trcae2trrace1ttrace1
Edit distance from "trace"

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 "trace"?
"trace" is spelled T-R-A-C-E. The IPA pronunciation is /tɹeɪs/.
What does "trace" mean?
As a noun, "trace" means: An act of tracing.
What words are commonly confused with "trace"?
"trace" is commonly confused with "tre", "true", "tree". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "trace"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "trace" is /tɹeɪs/. 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 "trace"?
From Middle English trace, traas, from Old French trace (“an outline, track, trace”), from the verb (see below). 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 "trace", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

sheep#5,264sandy#5,262bases#5,295chill#5,304

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

Codes7 variantsCraig7 variantshumor7 variantsgrain7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list