tab
/tæb/
"tab" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tab” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,620 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #7,620
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A small flap or strip of material attached to or inserted into something, for holding, manipulation, identification, opening etc.
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 | tab |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /tæb/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #7,620 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tab” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for tab is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /tæb/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,620 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No generated misspelling entries exist for tab in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "to", "TV", "te", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: First attested 1607, of uncertain origin. The correct English form is tab, spelled T-A-B.
Definition
- 1A small flap or strip of material attached to or inserted into something, for holding, manipulation, identification, opening etc.
- 2An ear.
- 3A navigational widget, resembling a physical tab, for switching between documents or sets of controls.
- 4The page or form associated with such a navigational widget.
- 5A fast march or run with full kit.
Etymology
First attested 1607, of uncertain origin.
This word in other languages
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
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Using “tab”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-A-B - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /tæb/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “to” - see the side-by-side comparison. tab vs to
- 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.