trolley

noun

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

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

The verdict

“trolley” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #16,372. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#16,372
frequency rank, English
3,151
“T” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A trolley pole; a single-pole device for collecting electrical current from an overhead electrical line, normally for a tram/streetcar or a trolleybus.

Corpus desk

Index EN-trolley · trolley · English

trolley · rank #16,372 · 9 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #16,372
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,151
  • PHOTO-FINISH trolling

Nearest frequency peer: trolling (+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 “trolley”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “trolley” 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).

trolley vs troll
71% similar

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

Key facts for trolley
PropertyValue
Headwordtrolley
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters7
Frequency rank#16,372
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “trolley”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).trolleylands 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 “trolling” (#16,373), “torpedo” (#16,370), “Trudeau” (#16,374). Among 3,151 “T” headwords, “trolley” is #16,372. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around trolley, anoun. Corpus frequency is #16,372 among 3,151 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 11 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for trolley, with forms such as "rtolley", "torlley", and "trloley". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "troll", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: Early 19th century (1823) meaning "cart", of dialectal origin (Suffolk), probably from troll (“to trundle, roll”) + -ey (diminutive ending). The correct English form is trolley, spelled T-R-O-L-L-E-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    A trolley pole; a single-pole device for collecting electrical current from an overhead electrical line, normally for a tram/streetcar or a trolleybus.
  2. 2
    A streetcar or light train.
  3. 3
    A light rail, tramway, trolleybus or streetcar system.
  4. 4
    A truck from which the load is suspended in some kinds of cranes.
  5. 5
    A truck which travels along the fixed conductors in an electric railway, and forms a means of connection between them and a railway car.
  6. 6
    A cart or shopping cart; a shopping trolley.
  7. 7
    Clipping of flatbed trolley.
  8. 8
    A hand truck.
  9. 9
    A soapbox car.
  10. 10
    A gurney, a stretcher with wheeled legs.
  11. 11
    A handcar.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Gremlinesque behaviour might not be very obvious to an America, who would accept as perfectly natural the quaintly pixilated sayings and doings that are happening in subways, in trolleys, on buses, in bars at all times of the day and night.
  2. About a shopping trolley, I thought I'd let ye know. Ya'd try to push it straight but it never seems ta go. Ya'd wobble through the car park, hopping off the cars. Anyone would think ya had a few auld jars.

Etymology

Early 19th century (1823) meaning "cart", of dialectal origin (Suffolk), probably from troll (“to trundle, roll”) + -ey (diminutive ending).

This word in other languages

trolley(Français)Laufkatze(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • rtolley
  • torlley
  • trloley
  • trolely
  • troley
  • trolleyy
  • trollye
  • trrolley
  • ttrolley

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

rtolley2torlley2trloley2trolely2troley1trolleyy1trollye2trrolley1
Edit distance from "trolley"

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 "trolley"?
"trolley" is spelled T-R-O-L-L-E-Y.
What does "trolley" mean?
As a noun, "trolley" means: A trolley pole; a single-pole device for collecting electrical current from an overhead electrical line, normally for a tram/streetcar or a trolleybus.
What words are commonly confused with "trolley"?
"trolley" is commonly confused with "troll". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What is the origin of the word "trolley"?
Early 19th century (1823) meaning "cart", of dialectal origin (Suffolk), probably from troll (“to trundle, roll”) + -ey (diminutive ending). 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 "trolley", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

torpedo#16,370Trudeau#16,374vaginal#16,378stocked#16,359

Similar misspelling depth

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

tanker9 variantsstoked9 variantswinged9 variantswiping9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list