tribute
/ˈtɹɪbjuːt/
"tribute" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tribute” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #4,722 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #4,722
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An acknowledgment of gratitude, respect or admiration; an accompanying gift.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tribute |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtɹɪbjuːt/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #4,722 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tribute” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for tribute is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈtɹɪbjuːt/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,722 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for tribute, with forms such as "rtibute", "tirbute", and "trbiute". 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. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "trite", "Trieste", "tribe", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *tréyes From Middle English tribut (14th c.), from Middle French tribut, from Latin tributum (“tribute”, literally “a thing contributed or paid”), past participle of tribuere (“to assign, allot”), usually derived from tribus (“tribe”, which see). The correct English form is tribute, spelled T-R-I-B-U-T-E.
Definition
- 1An acknowledgment of gratitude, respect or admiration; an accompanying gift.
- 2An acknowledgment of gratitude, respect or admiration; an accompanying gift.
- 3A payment made by one nation to another in submission.
- 4Extortion; protection money.
- 5A payment made by a feudal vassal to his lord.
- 6A certain proportion of the mined ore, or of its value, given to the miner as payment.
- 7Ellipsis of cum tribute.
Etymology
PIE word *tréyes From Middle English tribut (14th c.), from Middle French tribut, from Latin tributum (“tribute”, literally “a thing contributed or paid”), past participle of tribuere (“to assign, allot”), usually derived from tribus (“tribe”, which see).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: rtibute,tirbute,trbiute,tribbute,tribtue,tribuet,tributte,triubte,trribute,ttribute
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tribute - 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
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Using “tribute”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-R-I-B-U-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈtɹɪbjuːt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “trite” - see the side-by-side comparison. tribute vs trite
- 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.