trough
/tɹɒf/
"trough" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“trough” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #16,606 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #16,606
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 9
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A long, narrow container, open on top, for feeding or watering animals.
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 | trough |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /tɹɒf/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #16,606 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “trough” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for trough is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /tɹɒf/. Corpus data places it at rank #16,606 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for trough, with forms such as "rtough", "torugh", and "troguh". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 9 confusable-pair relationships, "truth", "trout", "troupe", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *dóru From Middle English trogh, from Old English troh, trog (“a trough, tub, basin, vessel for containing liquids or other materials”), from Proto-West Germanic *trog, from Proto-Germanic *trugą, *trugaz, from Proto-Indo-European *drukós, enlarge… The correct English form is trough, spelled T-R-O-U-G-H.
Definition
- 1A long, narrow container, open on top, for feeding or watering animals.
- 2Any similarly shaped container.
- 3Any similarly shaped container.
- 4A short, narrow canal designed to hold water until it drains or evaporates.
- 5An undivided metal urinal (plumbing fixture)
- 6A gutter under the eaves of a building; an eaves trough.
- 7A channel for conveying water or other farm liquids (such as milk) from place to place by gravity; any ‘U’ or ‘V’ cross-sectioned irrigation channel.
- 8A long, narrow depression between waves or ridges; the low portion of a wave cycle.
- 9A low turning point or a local minimum of a business cycle.
- 10A linear atmospheric depression associated with a weather front.
Etymology
PIE word *dóru From Middle English trogh, from Old English troh, trog (“a trough, tub, basin, vessel for containing liquids or other materials”), from Proto-West Germanic *trog, from Proto-Germanic *trugą, *trugaz, from Proto-Indo-European *drukós, enlargement of *dóru (“tree”). See also West Frisian trôch, Dutch trog, German Trog, Danish trug, Swedish tråg; also Middle Irish drochta (“wooden basin”), Old Armenian տարգալ (targal, “ladle, spoon”). More at tree.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: rtough,torugh,troguh,trouggh,troughh,trouhg,trrough,truogh,ttrough
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of trough - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "trough"?
What does "trough" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "trough"?
How do you pronounce "trough"?
What is the origin of the word "trough"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “trough”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-R-O-U-G-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /tɹɒf/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “truth” - see the side-by-side comparison. trough vs truth
- 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.