tempo
/ˈtɛm.pəʊ/
"tempo" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tempo” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #10,621. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #10,621
- frequency rank, English
- 3,151
- “T” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 11
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A frequency or rate.
Corpus desk
Index EN-tempo · tempo · English
tempo · rank #10,621 · 7 variants · 11 confusables
- FREQ-MID #10,621
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 11 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,151
- PHOTO-FINISH systemic
Nearest frequency peer: systemic (-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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “tempo”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- supper
supper
89,383 corpus weight
- sweetheart
sweetheart
89,382 corpus weight
- systemic
systemic
89,381 corpus weight
- tempo
tempo
89,380 corpus weight
- thereof
thereof
89,379 corpus weight
- thirsty
thirsty
89,378 corpus weight
What this shows “tempo” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | tempo |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtɛm.pəʊ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #10,621 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 11 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “tempo”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around tempo (IPA /ˈtɛm.pəʊ/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #10,621 among 3,151 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 8 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for tempo, with forms such as "etmpo", "temmpo", and "temop". 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 11 confusable-pair relationships, "Teo", "typo", "tempt", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Italian tempo, from Latin tempus (“time”). Doublet of tense. (truck or cargo van): A genericized trademark, originally associated with the manufacturer Vidal & Sohn Tempo-Werke GmbH. The correct English form is tempo, spelled T-E-M-P-O.
Definition
- 1A frequency or rate.
- 2A move which is part of one's own plan or strategy and forces, e.g. by means of a check or attacking a piece, the opponent to make a move which is not bad but of no use (the player gains a tempo, the opponent loses a tempo), or equivalently a player achieves the same result in fewer moves by one approach rather than another.
- 3The timing advantage of being on lead, thus being first to initiate a strategy to develop tricks for one's side.
- 4The timing of a particular event – earlier or later than in an alternative situation (as in chess example)
- 5The number of beats per minute in a piece of music; also, an indicative term denoting approximate rate of speed in written music (examples: allegro, andante)
- 6The steady pace set by the frontmost riders.
- 7A small truck or cargo van with three or four wheels, commonly used for commercial transport and deliveries (particularly in Asian and African countries).
- 8A rapid rate of play by the offense resulting from reducing the amount of time which elapses after one play ends and the next starts.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how tempo appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
10 calls per hour isn't a bad start, but we'll need to up the tempo if we want to reach our target of selling insurance policies.
The conductor asked the orchestra to increase the tempo.
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian tempo, from Latin tempus (“time”). Doublet of tense. (truck or cargo van): A genericized trademark, originally associated with the manufacturer Vidal & Sohn Tempo-Werke GmbH.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- etmpo
- temmpo
- temop
- temppo
- tepmo
- tmepo
- ttempo
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tempo - 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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "tempo", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).