truss
/tɹʌs/
"truss" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“truss” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #19,998 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #19,998
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A bandage and belt used to hold a hernia in place.
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 | truss |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /tɹʌs/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #19,998 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “truss” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for truss is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /tɹʌs/. Corpus data places it at rank #19,998 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for truss, with forms such as "rtuss", "trruss", and "trsus". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "tss", "tusk", "tugs", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English trusse, from Old French trousse, torse, from Vulgar Latin *torsus, variant of Classical Latin tortus, past participle of torqueō. Doublet of torse and trousse. The correct English form is truss, spelled T-R-U-S-S.
Definition
- 1A bandage and belt used to hold a hernia in place.
- 2A structure made up of one or more triangular units made from straight beams of wood or metal, which is used to support a structure as in a roof or bridge.
- 3A triangular bracket.
- 4An old English farming measurement. One truss of straw equalled 36 pounds, a truss of old hay equalled 56 pounds, a truss of new hay equalled 60 pounds, and 36 trusses equalled one load.
- 5A bundle; a package.
- 6A padded jacket or dress worn under armour, to protect the body from the effects of friction.
- 7Part of a woman's dress; a stomacher.
- 8A tuft of flowers or cluster of fruits formed at the top of the main stem of certain plants.
- 9The rope or iron used to keep the centre of a yard to the mast.
Etymology
From Middle English trusse, from Old French trousse, torse, from Vulgar Latin *torsus, variant of Classical Latin tortus, past participle of torqueō. Doublet of torse and trousse.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: rtuss,trruss,trsus,trus,ttruss,turss
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of truss - 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
How do you spell "truss"?
What does "truss" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "truss"?
How do you pronounce "truss"?
What is the origin of the word "truss"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “truss”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-R-U-S-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /tɹʌs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “tss” - see the side-by-side comparison. truss vs tss
- 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.