tar
/tɑː/
"tar" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tar” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #12,515 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #12,515
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A black, oily, sticky, viscous substance, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons derived from organic materials such as wood, peat, or coal.
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 | tar |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /tɑː/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #12,515 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tar” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for tar is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /tɑː/. Corpus data places it at rank #12,515 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.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for tar, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "to", "TV", "te", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *dóru From Middle English ter, terr, tarr, from Old English teoru, from Proto-West Germanic *teru, from Proto-Germanic *terwą, from Proto-Indo-European *derwo-, from *dóru (“tree”). See also Saterland Frisian Taar, West Frisian tarre, tar, Dutch t… The correct English form is tar, spelled T-A-R.
Definition
- 1A black, oily, sticky, viscous substance, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons derived from organic materials such as wood, peat, or coal.
- 2A black, oily, sticky, viscous substance, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons derived from organic materials such as wood, peat, or coal.
- 3A sailor (because of the traditional tarpaulin clothes).
- 4Black tar, a form of heroin.
Etymology
PIE word *dóru From Middle English ter, terr, tarr, from Old English teoru, from Proto-West Germanic *teru, from Proto-Germanic *terwą, from Proto-Indo-European *derwo-, from *dóru (“tree”). See also Saterland Frisian Taar, West Frisian tarre, tar, Dutch teer, German Teer; also Welsh derw (“oaks”), Lithuanian dervà (“pinewood, resin”), Russian де́рево (dérevo, “tree”), Bulgarian дърво́ (dǎrvó, “tree”). More at tree.
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 “tar”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-A-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /tɑː/ (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. tar 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.