tartar
/ˈtɑɹ.tɚ/
"tartar" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tartar” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #33,874 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #33,874
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 11
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A red compound deposited during wine making, mostly potassium hydrogen tartrate; wine stone — a source of cream of tartar.
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 | tartar |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtɑɹ.tɚ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #33,874 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 11 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tartar” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for tartar is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈtɑɹ.tɚ/. Corpus data places it at rank #33,874 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for tartar, with forms such as "atrtar", "taratr", and "tarrtar". 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 11 confusable-pair relationships, "tata", "tarts", "Tatar", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Old French tartre, from Medieval Latin tartarum, from Byzantine Greek τάρταρον (tártaron), said to be from Arabic دُرْدِيّ (durdiyy), though it is already found in Pelagonius’s Ars veterinaria 46 in the adjective tartarālis, if the reading is correct. … The correct English form is tartar, spelled T-A-R-T-A-R.
Definition
- 1A red compound deposited during wine making, mostly potassium hydrogen tartrate; wine stone — a source of cream of tartar.
- 2A hard yellow deposit on the teeth, formed from dental plaque.
Etymology
From Old French tartre, from Medieval Latin tartarum, from Byzantine Greek τάρταρον (tártaron), said to be from Arabic دُرْدِيّ (durdiyy), though it is already found in Pelagonius’s Ars veterinaria 46 in the adjective tartarālis, if the reading is correct. Arabic etymon from Persian درد (dord, “dreg”) from Proto-Iranian *dr̥ti- (“manure, feces”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰṛ-to-, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreyd- (“to have diarrhea”), whence also doublet of dirt.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: atrtar,taratr,tarrtar,tartarr,tartra,tarttar,tatrar,tratar,ttartar
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tartar - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "tartar"?
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Using “tartar”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-A-R-T-A-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈtɑɹ.tɚ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “tata” - see the side-by-side comparison. tartar vs tata
- 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.