tri
/tɹaɪ/noun
tri is spelled T-R-I: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 5.1 times per million words in written English, the 11,015th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, tri means “triathlon” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of tri is tris.
How many letters and syllables are in tri?
| Letters | 3: T-R-I |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 5.1 times per million words; the 11,015th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| 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 tri?
Tri appears 5.1 times per million words in written English, the 11,015th 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 tri?
- /tɹaɪ/
Tri 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-tri.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-tri-.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with tri
Sounds like: try (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with tri?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as tri.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: rit.
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 tri
- tris plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does tri mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
triathlon
a tri bike
- 2
triangle
- 3
colloquialtriceps
noun
- 1
Initialism of Triple Reuptake Inhibitor.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Tri in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense three:
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 tri come from?
Shortening of words with the initial component derived from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes (“three”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).