tare

/tɛə/

//tɛə// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"tare" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“tare” is uncommon English (frequency #64,759 among 3,151 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#64,759
frequency rank, English
3,151
“T” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A vetch, or the seed of a vetch (genus Vicia, esp. Vicia sativa)

Corpus desk

Index EN-tare · tare · English

tare · rank #64,759 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #64,759
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,151
  • PHOTO-FINISH Taras

Nearest frequency peer: Taras (-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.

Long-tail ranks near “tare”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “tare” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for tare
PropertyValue
Headwordtare
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/tɛə/
Letters4
Frequency rank#64,759
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “tare” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).tarefalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “Taras” (#64,758), “Tauranga” (#64,760), “Tamsin” (#64,757). Among 3,151 “T” headwords, “tare” is #64,759. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

tare is uncommon English at frequency #64,759 among 3,151 “T” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /tɛə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for tare, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English tare (“vetch”), from Old English *taru, from Proto-West Germanic *taru. The correct English form is tare, spelled T-A-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A vetch, or the seed of a vetch (genus Vicia, esp. Vicia sativa)
  2. 2
    Any of the tufted grasses of genus Lolium; darnel.
  3. 3
    A damaging weed growing in fields of grain.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how tare appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
  2. I saw as I thought an uncle and guardian who has led a sober, industrious and Christian life and finds himself obliged to look on the tares of folly in his own close kin.

Etymology

From Middle English tare (“vetch”), from Old English *taru, from Proto-West Germanic *taru.

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

How do you spell "tare"?
"tare" is spelled T-A-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is /tɛə/.
What does "tare" mean?
As a noun, "tare" means: A vetch, or the seed of a vetch (genus Vicia, esp. Vicia sativa)
How do you pronounce "tare"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "tare" is /tɛə/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "tare"?
From Middle English tare (“vetch”), from Old English *taru, from Proto-West Germanic *taru. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "tare", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

tyme#64,787Urie#64,808usta#64,812vada#64,815

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list