taster
/teɪstɚ/
"taster" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“taster” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #41,412 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #41,412
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An object in which, or by which, food or drink is tasted, such as a small cup.
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 | taster |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /teɪstɚ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #41,412 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “taster” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for taster is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /teɪstɚ/. Corpus data places it at rank #41,412 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 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 taster, with forms such as "atster", "tasetr", and "tasster". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "tate", "tasty", "Tatar", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English taster; equivalent to taste + -er. The correct English form is taster, spelled T-A-S-T-E-R.
Definition
- 1An object in which, or by which, food or drink is tasted, such as a small cup.
- 2Someone who tastes something; especially, either (1) to check its quality (in food science, winemaking, etc.) or (2) as a security measure to prevent assassination of a protectee.
- 3A kind of zooid situated on the polyp-stem of certain Siphonophorae, resembling the feeding zooids, but destitute of mouths.
- 4A sample of something bigger or grander intended for future use.
- 5A person who is, by genetic makeup, able to taste phenylthiocarbamide.
Etymology
From Middle English taster; equivalent to taste + -er.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: atster,tasetr,tasster,tasterr,tastre,tastter,tatser,tsater,ttaster
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of taster - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “taster”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-A-S-T-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /teɪstɚ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “tate” - see the side-by-side comparison. taster vs tate
- 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.