tatami
/təˈtɑːmi/
"tatami" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tatami” is uncommon English (frequency #71,964 among 3,151 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #71,964
- frequency rank, English
- 3,151
- “T” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Straw matting, in a standard size, used as a floor covering in Japanese houses.
Corpus desk
Index EN-tatami · tatami · English
tatami · rank #71,964 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #71,964
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,151
- PHOTO-FINISH tautology
Nearest frequency peer: tautology (+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 “tatami”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- talkback
talkback
28,043 corpus weight
- TANF
TANF
28,040 corpus weight
- Tannenbaum
Tannenbaum
28,039 corpus weight
- tatami
tatami
28,037 corpus weight
- tautology
tautology
28,036 corpus weight
- telemarketer
telemarketer
28,031 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “tatami” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tatami |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /təˈtɑːmi/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #71,964 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “tatami” in English
Rare enough to double-check
tatami is uncommon English at frequency #71,964 among 3,151 “T” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /təˈtɑːmi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
tatami has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Japanese 畳 (tatami). The correct English form is tatami, spelled T-A-T-A-M-I.
Definition
- 1Straw matting, in a standard size, used as a floor covering in Japanese houses.
- 2A unit of area equal to a standard-sized tatami mat, approximately 1.65 square metres.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how tatami appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Heny Hankovitch, con guítar, / did a short Zen pray, / on his tatami in a relaxed lotos / fixin his mind on nuffin, rose-blue breasts,
Small tools are spread on the tatami: a razor knife, a sprue cutter, curls of emery paper.
Etymology
Borrowed from Japanese 畳 (tatami).
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "tatami", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).