tribble
/ˈtɹɪbl̩/
"tribble" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tribble” is uncommon English (frequency #86,871 among 3,151 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #86,871
- frequency rank, English
- 3,151
- “T” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A horizontal frame with wires stretched across it for drying paper.
Corpus desk
Index EN-tribble · tribble · English
tribble · rank #86,871 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #86,871
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,151
- PHOTO-FINISH TTD
Nearest frequency peer: TTD (+3 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.
Long-tail ranks near “tribble”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- tosa
tosa
13,139 corpus weight
- tribble
tribble
13,130 corpus weight
- TTD
TTD
13,127 corpus weight
- turpitude
turpitude
13,124 corpus weight
- Tuzla
Tuzla
13,123 corpus weight
- twixt
twixt
13,121 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “tribble” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tribble |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtɹɪbl̩/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #86,871 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “tribble” in English
Rare enough to double-check
tribble is uncommon English at frequency #86,871 among 3,151 “T” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈtɹɪbl̩/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A horizontal frame with wires stretched across it for drying paper.".
tribble has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Unknown. The Century Dictionary suggests possibly a corruption of cribble (“sieve”). The correct English form is tribble, spelled T-R-I-B-B-L-E.
Definition
- 1A horizontal frame with wires stretched across it for drying paper.
Etymology
Unknown. The Century Dictionary suggests possibly a corruption of cribble (“sieve”).
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 "tribble"?
What does "tribble" mean?
How do you pronounce "tribble"?
What is the origin of the word "tribble"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "tribble", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).