tango
/ˈtæ̞ŋɡəʊ̯/
"tango" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tango” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #13,436. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #13,436
- frequency rank, English
- 3,151
- “T” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A standard ballroom dance in 4/4 time; or a social dance, the Argentine tango.
Corpus desk
Index EN-tango · tango · English
tango · rank #13,436 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #13,436
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,151
- PHOTO-FINISH tang
Nearest frequency peer: tang (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “tango”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- swipe
swipe
86,567 corpus weight
- tang
tang
86,566 corpus weight
- tango
tango
86,565 corpus weight
- telecom
telecom
86,564 corpus weight
- tighter
tighter
86,563 corpus weight
- tolerant
tolerant
86,562 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “tango” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | tango |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtæ̞ŋɡəʊ̯/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #13,436 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tango” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around tango (IPA /ˈtæ̞ŋɡəʊ̯/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #13,436 among 3,151 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for tango, with forms such as "atngo", "tagno", and "tanggo". 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, "tao", "tank", "ting", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Rioplatense Spanish tango, probably from a Niger-Congo language (compare Ibibio tamgu (“to dance”)). The correct English form is tango, spelled T-A-N-G-O.
Definition
- 1A standard ballroom dance in 4/4 time; or a social dance, the Argentine tango.
- 2A Spanish flamenco dance with different steps from the Argentine.
- 3A piece of music suited to such a dance.
- 4A dark orange colour shade; deep tangerine
Etymology
Borrowed from Rioplatense Spanish tango, probably from a Niger-Congo language (compare Ibibio tamgu (“to dance”)).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- atngo
- tagno
- tanggo
- tanngo
- tanog
- tnago
- ttango
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tango - 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 "tango"?
What does "tango" mean?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "tango", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "tango". Here's where to go from here.
- "tango" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "tao". View pair
- 7 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #13,436 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "T" letter cohort. T–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.