tripwire
"tripwire" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tripwire” is uncommon English (frequency #77,294 among 3,151 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #77,294
- frequency rank, English
- 3,151
- “T” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A cord or wire arranged so that when snagged or pulled by an intruder, it will trigger a detector or trap or a device, such as a land mine.
Corpus desk
Index EN-tripwire · tripwire · English
tripwire · rank #77,294 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #77,294
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,151
- PHOTO-FINISH treeless
Nearest frequency peer: treeless (-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.
Long-tail ranks near “tripwire”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- transexual
transexual
22,710 corpus weight
- transworld
transworld
22,709 corpus weight
- treeless
treeless
22,708 corpus weight
- tripwire
tripwire
22,707 corpus weight
- trow
trow
22,706 corpus weight
- trypsin
trypsin
22,704 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “tripwire” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tripwire |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #77,294 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “tripwire” in English
Rare enough to double-check
tripwire is uncommon English at frequency #77,294 among 3,151 “T” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
tripwire has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From trip + wire. The correct English form is tripwire, spelled T-R-I-P-W-I-R-E.
Definition
- 1A cord or wire arranged so that when snagged or pulled by an intruder, it will trigger a detector or trap or a device, such as a land mine.
- 2Any means of detecting intruders or attackers.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how tripwire appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Seeing the tripwire of a nearby bouncing Betty gave us cold chills, and we moved all the more slowly through the woods.
They watched the two ghost-hunters run own the corridor and go crashing over the trip-wire.
Etymology
From trip + wire.
This word in other languages
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.
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "tripwire", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).