transpose
/tɹænsˈpəʊz/
"transpose" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“transpose” is an uncommon English word, ranked #50,851 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #50,851
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To reverse or change the order of (two or more things); to swap or interchange.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | transpose |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /tɹænsˈpəʊz/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #50,851 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “transpose” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for transpose is 9 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /tɹænsˈpəʊz/. Corpus data places it at rank #50,851 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for transpose, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English transposen, from Old French transposer, from Latin trānspositus, perfect passive participle of trānspōnō (“to put across”), from trāns (“across”) + pōnō (“to put”). The correct English form is transpose, spelled T-R-A-N-S-P-O-S-E.
Definition
- 1To reverse or change the order of (two or more things); to swap or interchange.
- 2To rewrite or perform (a piece) in another key.
- 3To move (a term) from one side of an algebraic equation to the other, reversing the sign of the term.
- 4To rearrange elements in a matrix, by interchanging their respective row and column positional indicators.
- 5To reverse the direction of every edge of (a graph).
- 6To give force to a directive by passing appropriate implementation measures.
- 7To reach a position that may also be obtained from a different move order.
Etymology
From Middle English transposen, from Old French transposer, from Latin trānspositus, perfect passive participle of trānspōnō (“to put across”), from trāns (“across”) + pōnō (“to put”).
Synonyms
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); 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
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Using “transpose”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-R-A-N-S-P-O-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /tɹænsˈpəʊz/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.