Word Confusion: Triple vs Triplet vs Triplicate

Posted February 5, 2018 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
7 Jan 2023

Just trip, trip, trippin’ along this triplicate path of triple-patterned stones that all look like triplets in the dark.

Okay, so I’m not a poet. I got punchy tonight as I was finishing up this Word Confusion, and just got to trip, trip, trippin’ along in my head. I’m just hopin’ I don’t get my feet caught in those Celtic triple knots!

Triplet is the easiest. It’s strictly a noun and all about the succession of three things: three notes, three babies born at the same time, three lines of verse that rhyme, three layers, genetics . . . one follows the next.

Triple and triplicate only seem the same. Ain’t I helpful, lol.

Triple is simply three. They can match or not. But it’s three times something. Three players. If you like fantasy novels, you know all about the threefold rule for Wiccans. If you enjoy a stiff scotch, you sometimes want a triple. Hopefully, not too often.

Triplicate is three exact copies. It’s usually in reference to paperwork. Gawd, I’m old enough to remember having to type things up in triplicate. What a pain if you made a mistake. We thought it was so luxurious when colored, colored!, correction fluid came out. Then the correction tape. Oh, yeah, baby . . . that’s what I’m talkin’ about!

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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Triple Triplet Triplicate

Triple cheeseburger

Triple Cheeseburger is in the public domain, via Open Food Facts.


Mama sheep with lamb triplets

Romney Sheep, Ewe with Triplet Lambs in New Zealand by Pam (is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.


The same form in triplicate: white, pink, and green

In Triplicate is a derivative of WMDE Wikimania 2017 scholarship application form courtesy of Wikimedia Deutschland under the CC BY-4.0 license.

Part of Grammar:
Adjective 1; Noun 1; Predeterminer 1; Verb 2, intransitive & transitive

Plural for the noun: triples
Gerund: tripling

Third person present verb: triples
Past tense or past participle: tripled
Present participle: tripling

Noun

Plural for noun: triplets

Adjective; Noun; Verb, transitive

Plural for the noun: triplicates
Gerund: triplicating

Third person present verb: triplicates
Past tense or past participle: triplicated
Present participle: triplicating

Adjective:
[Attrib.] Consisting of or involving three parts, things, or people 1

  • Having three times the usual size, quality, or strength
  • Threefold
  • [Of a person or animal] Having done or won something three times
  • Triad

Of three kinds

  • Threefold in character or relationship

Three times as great

[International law] Tripartite

[Of musical time or rhythm] Having three beats in each bar

Noun:
A thing that is three times as large as usual or is made up of three standard units or items 1

[triples] A sporting contest in which each side has three players

[Bell-ringing; triples] A system of change ringing using seven bells, with three pairs changing places each time

[Baseball] A hit which enables the batter to reach third base

Another term for trifecta

[Bowling] Three strikes in succession

[Informal] A drink with three portions of alcohol

[US] A hamburger with three patties

[Curling] A takeout shot in which three stones are removed from play

[Mathematics, computing] A sequence of three elements or 3-tuple

Predeterminer:
Three times as much or as many 1

Verb, intransitive:
Become three times as much or as many 2

[Baseball] Hit a triple

Verb, transitive:
Multiply (something) by three 2

  • To make triple

[Baseball] To cause to come into home plate by a triple

[Usually triplets] One of three children or animals born at the same birth

A set or succession of three similar things

  • [Music, a.k.a., tercet] Three notes that should be played in the same time it takes to play two notes
  • [Prosody] A set of three rhyming lines of verse
  • A stanza of three lines

[Physics & Chemistry] An atomic or molecular state characterized by two unpaired electrons with parallel spins

  • A group of three associated lines close together in a spectrum or electrophoretic gel

An assembled imitation gem with three parts, the center one giving the color, the top and bottom, sometimes genuine, supplying the wearing qualities

[Genetics] A sequence of three nucleotides: a codon in messenger RNA and an anticodon in transfer RNA

Adjective:
[Attrib.] Existing in three copies or examples

Noun:
A thing which is part of a set of three copies or corresponding parts

  • One of three identical items, especially copies of typewritten material

Verb, transitive:
Make three copies of (something)

  • Multiply by three
Examples:
Adjective:
George has been assigned a triple murder.

Did you see him turn triple somersaults!

It takes some skill to tie a necktie in a triple knot.

Andy Priaulx, a racing car driver from Guernsey, is a triple World Touring Car Champion (2005–2007).

A classic daiquiri includes rum, triple sec, lime juice, and sugar.

Use a triple strand of square-sectioned wire, knotted around itself to form a bezel, to create a unique knot-ring.

Triple-A baseball has a plus-130-year history.

A triple deity is three deities worshipped as one.

The Japanese reaction against the Triple Intervention was one of the underlying causes of the subsequent Russo-Japanese War.

No, it has to be played in triple time to set that mood.

Noun:
Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, and Ty Cobb have all won the Triple Crown.

Pull out one of the triple boxes and check.

Gimme a triple whiskey.

The shortstop hit a triple to lead off the ninth.

An elephant weighs about triple that of a tiger.

Are you prepared to play triples?

You can hear the triple every night at twelve.

“The moon will stage a rare triple show on Wednesday when a blue super moon combines with a total lunar eclipse that will be visible from western North America to eastern Asia, US astronomers say” (Simpson).

Tim Horton’s medium-size Triple Triple has 315 calories and 18g of total fat.

The most recent MLB unassisted triple play occurred on August 23, 2009, by second baseman Eric Bruntlett of the Philadelphia Phillies against the New York Mets.

I heard Hank bowled a triple.

I’d like a triple with cheese.

Didja hear? Magnus hit a triple bogey on the fourth hole.

Triple 6 is 18 while Triple R is RRR.

Kevin Martin pulled a triple takeout to win the game.

Predeterminer:
The copper energy cells had triple the efficiency of silicon cells.

The money they were asking for was triple the amount we expected.

The mine reportedly had an accident rate triple the national average.

Verb, intransitive:
Grain prices were expected to triple.

He tripled into right field.

I got a fantastic new job and my salary tripled.

Verb, transitive:
The party more than tripled its share of the vote.

XYZ Corporation tripled its profits in two months.

They tripled the runner home.

Mary’s having triplets!

Tyler, Max, and Davis Herman from Atlanta, Georgia, are in the Guinness Book of Records for being the world’s tallest triplets.

“In a solitude of sea
“Deep from human vanity
“And the pride of life that planned her, stilly couches she” (Morillo).

Opal triplets have a colorless, usually somewhat domed, cap cemented to the doublet.

The nucleotide triplet that encodes an amino acid is called a codon” (Hardison).

Adjective:
We have triplicate measurements.

The legal department wants triplicate contracts.

The standard curve was prepared by triplicate evaluations of the protein concentrations.

Each group was tested on three mice with triplicate counts of each dilution.

When he started in the late 1970s, he recorded deliveries on paper with triplicate carbons.

Noun:
It’s the triplicate of a letter to the Governor.

This letter should be done in triplicate.

I hated typing triplicates.

“Bills of exchange are usually drawn in duplicate and sometimes in triplicate” (Eaton).

So in 1998 he filled out the requisite triplicates, signed on the mandatory dotted lines, and did whatever else he thought necessary to bring in a foreign domestic to tend to her.

Verb, transitive:
Triplicate that report before you send it out.

Titles which have been sparingly ordered can be later duplicated or triplicated.

The remaining 54% were triplicated loci found on all three chromosomes.

As long as a company allows employees to duplicate and triplicate company files on devices that leave the office, it cannot ensure that its information won’t ever get out.

Derivatives:
Adverb: triply Adjective: subtriplicate, subtriplicated
Noun: subtriplication, triplication
History of the Word:
  1. Middle English from Old French, or from the Latin triplus, which is from the Greek triplous.
  2. 1325-75 Middle English from the Latin triplus adjective), which is equivalent to tri- (three) + plus (fold).
Mid-17th century from triple, on the pattern of doublet. Late Middle English from the Latin triplicat- meaning made three, from the verb triplicare, which is from triplex, triplic- meaning threefold.

The early 17th century is when the verb, triplicate, appeared.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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Resources for Triple vs Triplet vs Triplicate

Apple Dictionary.com

Collins Dictionary: triple

Dictionary.com: triple, triplet

Eaton, Seymour. Up to Date Business. Gutenberg.org. 6 Feb 2007. Web. n.d. <http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20531?msg=welcome_stranger>.

Hardison, Ross. Chapter 13. Section IV. Gene Expression and Protein Synthesis. Part Three. B M B 400. Genetic Code. Pennsylvania State. <https://www.bx.psu.edu/~ross/workmg/GeneticCodeCh13.htm>.

Macmillan Dictionary: triple

Morillo, Dr. John. “Guide to Poetics and Prosody.” North Carolina State. <http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/users/m/morillo/public/prosody1.htm>.

Oxford Dictionary: triplicate

Simpson, Ian. “Heavenly Show to Feature Trifecta of Super Blue Moon, Eclipse.” Science News. Reuters. 29 Jan 2018. Web. n.d. <https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lunar-eclipse-usa/heavenly-show-to-feature-trifecta-of-super-blue-moon-eclipse-idUSKBN1FI16I>.

WikiDiff: triple vs triplicate

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Pinterest Photo Credits:

Triquetra Circle Interlaced by AnonMoos (initial SVG conversion of PostScript source by AnonMoos was done by Indolences), and it is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

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