tax

/tæks/

//tæks// noun

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

"tax" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“tax” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #758) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#758
frequency rank, English
3,151
“T” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Money or goods collected by a government (or an entity to whom the government has delegated this power, e.g. in tax farming) to fund itself and its services, for example by levying a charge on inco...

Corpus desk

Index EN-tax · tax · English

tax · rank #758 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #758
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,151
  • PHOTO-FINISH stuff

Nearest frequency peer: stuff (-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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “tax”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “tax” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

tax vs to
33% similar
tax vs TV
0% similar
tax vs te
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for tax
PropertyValue
Headwordtax
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/tæks/
Letters3
Frequency rank#758
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “tax” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). tax lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for tax is neighbouring look-alikes ("to", "TV", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /tæks/. Frequency #758 among 3,151 “T” headwords. 3 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for tax, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "to", "TV", "te", 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 taxe, from Middle French taxe, from Medieval Latin taxa, from Latin taxō (“to appraise, value, estimate; (medieval) to tax”). Doublet of task. Displaced native Old English gafol, which was also the word for “tribute” and “rent”. The correct English form is tax, spelled T-A-X.

Definition

  1. 1
    Money or goods collected by a government (or an entity to whom the government has delegated this power, e.g. in tax farming) to fund itself and its services, for example by levying a charge on income, purchases (sales), property or harvest, other than that money which is collected by the government in exchange for specific goods (e.g. the purchase of surplus vehicles).
  2. 2
    A charge (of money, food, labor, etc) collected by a person, organization, etc; something required (exacted) from someone who is (really or notionally) under the control of the taxer, such as a contribution or service.
  3. 3
    A burdensome demand;

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. [They paid a] "mushroom tax" in addition to their regular tax of butter and meat. They had to give 1 dre of dried mushrooms annually to the district administrative centres.
  2. The [General Farm] organization collected a tax on salt (gabelle) and another on alcohol and tobacco (aide), along with customs duties (traites) and duties on goods entering Paris from elsewhere in France (entrées). Evasion of all of these taxes through smugglign and other fraud was epidemic[…]

Etymology

From Middle English taxe, from Middle French taxe, from Medieval Latin taxa, from Latin taxō (“to appraise, value, estimate; (medieval) to tax”). Doublet of task. Displaced native Old English gafol, which was also the word for “tribute” and “rent”.

This word in other languages

impuesto(Español)impôt(Français)Steuer(Deutsch)imposto(Português)

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.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "tax"?
"tax" is spelled T-A-X. The IPA pronunciation is /tæks/.
What does "tax" mean?
As a noun, "tax" means: Money or goods collected by a government (or an entity to whom the government has delegated this power, e.g. in tax farming) to fund itself and its services, for example by levying a charge on inco...
What words are commonly confused with "tax"?
"tax" is commonly confused with "to", "TV", "te". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "tax"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "tax" is /tæks/. 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 "tax"?
From Middle English taxe, from Middle French taxe, from Medieval Latin taxa, from Latin taxō (“to appraise, value, estimate; (medieval) to tax”). Doublet of task. Displaced native Old English gafol, which was also the word for “tribute” and “rent”. 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 "tax", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

eat#765hey#787key#788mom#789

What to do next

You've looked up "tax". Here's where to go from here.

  • "tax" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "to". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #758 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more English words in the "T" letter cohort. T–Z browse
  • PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list