tapas
/ˈtæpæs/
"tapas" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tapas” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #34,713. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #34,713
- 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 variety of Spanish small savoury food items or snacks such as croquettes, cured meat, potato salad, and seafood, originally served with sherry and now often with other alcoholic beverages as well.
Corpus desk
Index EN-tapas · tapas · English
tapas · rank #34,713 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #34,713
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,151
- PHOTO-FINISH tenement
Nearest frequency peer: tenement (+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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “tapas”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- suffocate
suffocate
65,292 corpus weight
- tapas
tapas
65,288 corpus weight
- tenement
tenement
65,287 corpus weight
- tetanus
tetanus
65,286 corpus weight
- thatched
thatched
65,285 corpus weight
- thon
thon
65,284 corpus weight
What this shows “tapas” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | tapas |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtæpæs/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #34,713 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “tapas”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around tapas (IPA /ˈtæpæs/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #34,713 among 3,151 “T” headwords. Dominant gloss: "A variety of Spanish small savoury food items or snacks such as croquettes, cured meat, potato salad, and seafood, originally served with sherry and now often with other alcoholic beverages as well.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for tapas, with forms such as "atpas", "taaps", and "tapass". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "TPS", "tips", "tape", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Spanish tapas, the plural of tapa (“appetizer, tapa; cap, lid (cover of a container)”) (from the fact that plates of tapas were originally placed on the tops of glasses of alcoholic beverages as lids), from Gothic *𐍄𐌰𐍀𐍀𐌰 (*tappa), from Proto-Germa… The correct English form is tapas, spelled T-A-P-A-S.
Definition
- 1A variety of Spanish small savoury food items or snacks such as croquettes, cured meat, potato salad, and seafood, originally served with sherry and now often with other alcoholic beverages as well.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how tapas appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The snacks are called tapas because in the old days a piece of toast was served, too, so that you might have a "top" on your glass of sherry, a lid that would prevent the flies from getting into the glass.
Most food scholars agree that the tapas tradition originated in the wine-growing regions of Andalusia, eventually spreading throughout the country. The Moors (Muslim Arabs), who dominated Spain from the beginning of the eighth century until the end of the fifteenth century, settled in the same area, and their meze tradition undoubtedly had an influence on…
Etymology
From Spanish tapas, the plural of tapa (“appetizer, tapa; cap, lid (cover of a container)”) (from the fact that plates of tapas were originally placed on the tops of glasses of alcoholic beverages as lids), from Gothic *𐍄𐌰𐍀𐍀𐌰 (*tappa), from Proto-Germanic *tappô (“plug; tap”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂p- (“to lose; to sacrifice”). Doublet of tap.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- atpas
- taaps
- tapass
- tappas
- tapsa
- tpaas
- ttapas
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tapas - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "tapas", 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).