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PlainSpell

transpose

/tɹænsˈpoʊz/verb, adjective, noun

transpose is spelled T-R-A-N-S-P-O-S-E: 9 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 50,539th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, transpose means “To reverse or change the order of (two or more things); to swap or interchange” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in transpose?

Letters9: T-R-A-N-S-P-O-S-E
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 3 million words; the 50,539th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
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 transpose?

Transpose appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 50,539th most frequent word form in the list.

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

How do you pronounce transpose?

  • UK /tɹænsˈpəʊz/
  • UK /tɹɑːnsˈpəʊz/
  • US /tɹænsˈpoʊz/

As a noun (“The process of rearranging elements in a matrix, by…”): /ˈtɹænzpoʊz/, /ˈtɹɑːnspəʊz/.

Transpose has 2 syllables (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-transpose-verb.ogg, En-us-transpose-noun.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with transpose?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as transpose from its last stressed vowel (/oʊz/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: patroness.

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 transpose

  • transposes present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • transposing participle, present
  • transposed participle, past

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

What does transpose mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To reverse or change the order of (two or more things); to swap or interchange.

  2. 2

    To rewrite or perform (a piece) in another key.

  3. 3

    To move (a term) from one side of an algebraic equation to the other, reversing the sign of the term.

  4. 4

    To rearrange elements in a matrix, by interchanging their respective row and column positional indicators.

  5. 5

    To reverse the direction of every edge of (a graph).

  6. 6

    To give force to a directive by passing appropriate implementation measures.

  7. 7

    To reach a position that may also be obtained from a different move order.

    After e6, the opening transposed to a Sicilian.

adjective

  1. 1

    Created by transposing a specified matrix.

  2. 2

    Created by transposing a specified graph.

noun

  1. 1

    The matrix derived from performing a transpose operation on a given matrix.

  2. 2

    A graph whose every edge has had its direction reversed.

  3. 3

    The process of rearranging elements in a matrix, by interchanging their respective row and column positional indicators.

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

How do you abbreviate transpose?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of transpose: tr..

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

Transpose in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchtransposer (to reverse or change the order of two), transposée, matrice transposée (matrix)
Germanvertauschen, umstellen, die Reihenfolge ändern (to reverse or change the order of two), Transponierte (matrix), transponieren (music: to write or perform (a piece) in another…)
Portuguesetranspor (to reverse or change the order of two), passar (algebra: to move (a term) to the other side of…)
Spanishtransponer, reversar (to reverse or change the order of two), matriz traspuesta (matrix), transportar (music: to write or perform (a piece) in another…), cambiar de miembro (algebra: to move (a term) to the other side 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 transpose come from?

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”).

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

What to look up after transpose