tango
/ˈtæ̞ŋɡəʊ̯/
"tango" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tango” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #13,436 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #13,436
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A standard ballroom dance in 4/4 time; or a social dance, the Argentine tango.
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
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for tango is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈtæ̞ŋɡəʊ̯/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,436 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
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
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Using “tango”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-A-N-G-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈtæ̞ŋɡəʊ̯/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “tao” - see the side-by-side comparison. tango vs tao
- 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.