trellis

/ˈtɹɛlɪs/

//ˈtɹɛlɪs// noun

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

"trellis" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“trellis” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #47,974. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#47,974
frequency rank, English
3,151
“T” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An outdoor garden frame that can be used for partitioning a common area.

Corpus desk

Index EN-trellis · trellis · English

trellis · rank #47,974 · 9 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #47,974
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,151
  • PHOTO-FINISH transphobia

Nearest frequency peer: transphobia (-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 “trellis”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “trellis” 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).

trellis vs tells
71% similar
trellis vs tellin
71% similar

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

Key facts for trellis
PropertyValue
Headwordtrellis
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈtɹɛlɪs/
Letters7
Frequency rank#47,974
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “trellis”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).trellislands 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 “transphobia” (#47,973), “transfiguration” (#47,972), “truthfulness” (#47,976). Among 3,151 “T” headwords, “trellis” is #47,974. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around trellis (IPA /ˈtɹɛlɪs/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #47,974 among 3,151 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for trellis, with forms such as "rtellis", "terllis", and "trelils". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "tells", "tellin", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English trelis, from Anglo-Norman treslis, from Old French treille (“arbor”), from Latin trichila (“arbor", "summer house”). However, see OED which claims another Old French form referring to sackcloth, from Vulgar Latin. The correct English form is trellis, spelled T-R-E-L-L-I-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    An outdoor garden frame that can be used for partitioning a common area.
  2. 2
    An outdoor garden frame that can be used to grow vines or other climbing plants.
  3. 3
    A kind of graph, used in communication theory and encryption, whose nodes are ordered into vertical slices by time, with each node at each time connected to at least one node at an earlier and at least one node at a later time.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. It was a very warm evening; and the moonlight turned the Thames to an unbroken mirror of silver, and gave to the soft shadows of the shrubs, and the creepers that wound among the trellises, an appearance almost Italian.

Etymology

From Middle English trelis, from Anglo-Norman treslis, from Old French treille (“arbor”), from Latin trichila (“arbor", "summer house”). However, see OED which claims another Old French form referring to sackcloth, from Vulgar Latin.

Synonyms

treillage

This word in other languages

enrejado(Español)treillage(Français)Gatter(Deutsch)treliça(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • rtellis
  • terllis
  • trelils
  • trelis
  • trelliss
  • trellsi
  • trlelis
  • trrellis
  • ttrellis

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

rtellis2terllis2trelils2trelis1trelliss1trellsi2trlelis2trrellis1
Edit distance from "trellis"

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 "trellis"?
"trellis" is spelled T-R-E-L-L-I-S. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈtɹɛlɪs/.
What does "trellis" mean?
As a noun, "trellis" means: An outdoor garden frame that can be used for partitioning a common area.
What words are commonly confused with "trellis"?
"trellis" is commonly confused with "tells", "tellin". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "trellis"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "trellis" is /ˈtɹɛlɪs/. 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 "trellis"?
From Middle English trelis, from Anglo-Norman treslis, from Old French treille (“arbor”), from Latin trichila (“arbor", "summer house”). However, see OED which claims another Old French form referring to sackcloth, from Vulgar Latin. 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 "trellis", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

toenail#47,965usurper#47,996tactful#47,950synchro#47,948

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

theism9 variantsWaikato9 variantswriggle9 variantsAaliyah9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list