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PlainSpell

trace

/tɹeɪs/noun, adjective, verb

trace is spelled T-R-A-C-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,206th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Trace, the name). As a noun, trace means “An act of tracing” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of trace is traces.

How many letters and syllables are in trace?

Letters5: T-R-A-C-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing15 times per million words; the 5,206th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is trace?

Trace appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,206th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Trace, the name.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce trace?

  • /tɹeɪs/
  • [tʃɹeɪs]

Trace has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-trace.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-trace.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with trace?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as trace.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: react, cater, crate, carte, creat, caret, acter.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of trace

  • traces plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • more trace comparative
  • most trace superlative
  • tracest superlative
  • tracing participle, present
  • traced participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does trace mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    An act of tracing.

    Your cell phone company can put a trace on your line.

  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.

    There are traces of chocolate around your lips.

  5. 5

    A small amount of rain, not enough to be measured.

  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.

adjective

  1. 1

    Extremely small or insignificant (of an amount or quantity).

verb

  1. 1

    To follow the trail of.

  2. 2

    To follow the history of.

  3. 3

    To draw or sketch lightly or with care.

    He carefully traced the outlines of the old building before him.

  4. 4

    To copy onto a sheet of paper superimposed over the original, by drawing over its lines.

  5. 5

    obsoleteTo copy; to imitate.

  6. 6

    obsoleteTo walk; to go; to travel.

  7. 7

    obsoleteTo walk over; to pass through; to traverse.

  8. 8

    To follow the execution of the program by making it to stop after every instruction, or by making it print a message after every step.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate trace?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of trace: tr..

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Trace in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Germanaufzeichnen, aufspüren, nachspüren, nachziehen, verfolgen (act of tracing), Spur (mark left as a sign of passage)
Spanishcalcar (act of tracing), huella, rastro, traza (mark left as a sign of passage), cantidad ínfima, cuantía mínima (very small amount)
Frenchtrace (mark left as a sign of passage), traces (very small amount), trait (one of two straps, chains, or ropes of a…), tracer (to draw or sketch), calquer (to copy onto a sheet of superimposed paper)
Portuguesevestígio, rastro, rasto (mark left as a sign of passage), traçar (to draw or sketch), traço (linear algebra: sum of the diagonal elements of…), rastrear (to follow the trail of)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does trace come from?

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

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after trace