travesty
/ˈtɹæv.ɪs.ti/
"travesty" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“travesty” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #29,131 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #29,131
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An absurd, grotesque, misrepresentative or grossly inferior likeness or imitation.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | travesty |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtɹæv.ɪs.ti/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #29,131 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “travesty” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for travesty is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈtɹæv.ɪs.ti/. Corpus data places it at rank #29,131 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for travesty, with forms such as "rtavesty", "tarvesty", and "traevsty". 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. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French travesti (“disguised, burlesqued”), past participle of travestir (“to disguise”), borrowed from Italian travestire (“to dress up, disguise”), from tra- (“across”) + vestire (“to dress”), from Latin vestiō (“to clothe, dress”), from Proto-Italic … The correct English form is travesty, spelled T-R-A-V-E-S-T-Y.
Definition
- 1An absurd, grotesque, misrepresentative or grossly inferior likeness or imitation.
- 2A pastiche, parody, or stylistic imitation; a burlesque literary or artistic imitation (typically of a more serious work).
- 3An appalling event, situation or outcome (especially in relation to another outcome to which it is grossly inferior).
Etymology
From French travesti (“disguised, burlesqued”), past participle of travestir (“to disguise”), borrowed from Italian travestire (“to dress up, disguise”), from tra- (“across”) + vestire (“to dress”), from Latin vestiō (“to clothe, dress”), from Proto-Italic *westis (“clothing”), from Proto-Indo-European *wéstis (“dressing”) from verbal root *wes- (“to dress, clothe”); cognate to English wear. Doublet of travesti.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: rtavesty,tarvesty,traevsty,travessty,travestty,travestyy,travesyt,travetsy,travsety,travvesty,trravesty,trvaesty,ttravesty
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of travesty - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "travesty"?
What does "travesty" mean?
What are common misspellings of "travesty"?
How do you pronounce "travesty"?
What is the origin of the word "travesty"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “travesty”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-R-A-V-E-S-T-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈtɹæv.ɪs.ti/ (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.