# tape

> English word · Noun · IPA /teɪ̯p/ · frequency rank #3,398

## Definitions
1. Flexible material in a roll with a sticky surface on one or both sides; adhesive tape.
2. Thin and flat paper, plastic or similar flexible material, usually produced in the form of a roll.
3. Finishing tape, stretched across a track to mark the end of a race.
4. Magnetic or optical recording media in a roll; videotape or audio tape.
5. Any video or audio recording, regardless of the method used to produce it.
6. An unthinking, patterned response triggered by a particular stimulus.
7. The series of prices at which a financial instrument trades.
8. The wrapping of the primary puck-handling surface of a hockey stick.
9. A strong flexible band rotating on pulleys for directing the sheets in a printing machine.
10. Liquor, alcoholic drink, especially gin or brandy. (Especially in prison slang or among domestic servants and women.)
11. Clipping of red tape (“time-consuming bureaucratic procedures”).

## Etymology
From Middle English tape, tappe, from Old English tæppa, tæppe (“ribbon, tape”); further origin unclear. Probably akin to Old Frisian tapia (“to pull, rip, tear”), Middle Low German tappen, tāpen (“to grab, pull, rip, tear, snatch”), Middle High German zāfen, zāven (“to pull, tear”).

## Easily confused with
- **te** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tape-vs-te)
- **tp** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tape-vs-tp)
- **the** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tape-vs-the)
- **top** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tape-vs-top)
- **tax** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tape-vs-tax)
- **tip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tape-vs-tip)
- **tie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tape-vs-tie)
- **toe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tape-vs-toe)
- **tee** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tape-vs-tee)
- **tar** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tape-vs-tar)
- **tat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tape-vs-tat)
- **tau** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tape-vs-tau)
- **Tue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tape-vs-tue)
- **tay** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tape-vs-tay)
- **TCP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tape-vs-tcp)
- **tre** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tape-vs-tre)
- **tse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tape-vs-tse)
- **TPS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tape-vs-tps)
- **TRP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tape-vs-trp)
- **tye** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tape-vs-tye)

## Common misspellings (5)
`atpe`, `taep`, `tappe`, `tpae`, `ttape`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/tape