tarantula
/təˈɹæn.t͡ʃʊ.lə/
"tarantula" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tarantula” has 13 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #40,922. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #40,922
- frequency rank, English
- 27,828
- “T” headwords
- 13
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of the large, hairy New World spiders comprising the family Theraphosidae.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tarantula |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /təˈɹæn.t͡ʃʊ.lə/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #40,922 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tarantula” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 13 spelling variants around tarantula (IPA /təˈɹæn.t͡ʃʊ.lə/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #40,922 among 27,828 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for tarantula, with forms such as "atrantula", "taarntula", and "taranntula". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Medieval Latin tarantula, from Old Italian tarantola, from Taranto (“seaport in southern Italy”), from Latin Tarentum (“Latin name of the town”), from Ancient Greek Τάρᾱς (Tárās, “Greek name of the town”), genitive Τᾰ́ρᾰντος; compare Modern Greek Τάραν… The correct English form is tarantula, spelled T-A-R-A-N-T-U-L-A.
Definition
- 1Any of the large, hairy New World spiders comprising the family Theraphosidae.
- 2A member of certain other groups of spiders, generally characterized by large size, hairiness, or membership of infraorder Mygalomorphae to which Theraphosidae family also belongs.
- 3A species of wolf spider, Lycosa tarantula, native to southern Europe, the mildly poisonous bite of which was once thought to cause an extreme urge to dance (tarantism).
Etymology
From Medieval Latin tarantula, from Old Italian tarantola, from Taranto (“seaport in southern Italy”), from Latin Tarentum (“Latin name of the town”), from Ancient Greek Τάρᾱς (Tárās, “Greek name of the town”), genitive Τᾰ́ρᾰντος; compare Modern Greek Τάραντας (Tárantas) and Tarantino Tarde. probably from Illyrian *darandos (“oak”). Sense 3 (“Lycosa tarantula”) is the original sense of the word, and refers to the fact that the spider was common in the Apulia region where Taranto is located. Sense 1 (“New World spider in the family Theraphosidae”), the main modern sense of the word, may have been a transferred use of Spanish tarántula (“tarantula (Lycosa tarantula)”) to describe large, hairy spiders found in the New World.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- atrantula
- taarntula
- taranntula
- tarantlua
- taranttula
- tarantual
- tarantulla
- taranutla
- taratnula
- tarnatula
- tarrantula
- traantula
- ttarantula
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tarantula - 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 “tarantula”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-A-R-A-N-T-U-L-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /təˈɹæn.t͡ʃʊ.lə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Same frequency band
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.