TanavsTanakaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Tana” and “Tanaka” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#36,369
“Tana” frequency rank
#20,512
“Tanaka” frequency rank
56881
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Tana Tanaka
Definition Nickname for Antananarivo: the capital and largest city of Madagascar. A surname from Japanese.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Tana and Tanaka apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
Tana
6 ch
Tanaka

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Tana and Tanaka are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Tana” sits inside “Tanaka”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56881, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Tana is recorded at frequency rank #36,369, classified as aname. Tanaka is at rank #20,512, tagged as aname.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 56881, this pair ranks #123,090 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Tana vs Tanaka

Shared letters: ant. Private to "Tana": -. Private to "Tanaka": k.

"Tana" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Tanaka" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Tanaatna · taan · tanna · tnaa · ttana
  • Tanakaatnaka · taanka · tanaak · tanakka · tankaa · tannaka · tnaaka · ttanaka

Frequency comparison

Tana#36,369
Tanaka#20,512

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Tana" and "Tanaka" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Tana” sits inside “Tanaka”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "Tana" or "Tanaka"?
"Tanaka" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,512 in our English list, against #36,369 for "Tana". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Tana vs Tanaka

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Tana” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list