tobacco
/təˈbæk.əʊ/
"tobacco" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tobacco” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,276 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #5,276
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any plant of the genus Nicotiana.
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 | tobacco |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /təˈbæk.əʊ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #5,276 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tobacco” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for tobacco is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /təˈbæk.əʊ/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,276 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for tobacco, with forms such as "otbacco", "tboacco", and "toabcco". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "Tobago", "tabasco", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Attested since 1588, borrowed from Spanish tabaco. The Spanish word could be from Arabic طُبَّاق (ṭubbāq, “Dittrichia viscosa”) or from a Caribbean language such as Kari'na or Taíno or multiple of them, from a word meaning "roll of tobacco leaves" or "a pip… The correct English form is tobacco, spelled T-O-B-A-C-C-O.
Definition
- 1Any plant of the genus Nicotiana.
- 2Leaves of Nicotiana tabacum and some other species cultivated and harvested to make cigarettes, cigars, snuff, for smoking in pipes or for chewing.
- 3A variety of tobacco.
Etymology
Attested since 1588, borrowed from Spanish tabaco. The Spanish word could be from Arabic طُبَّاق (ṭubbāq, “Dittrichia viscosa”) or from a Caribbean language such as Kari'na or Taíno or multiple of them, from a word meaning "roll of tobacco leaves" or "a pipe for smoking tobacco," such as tabago (“tube for inhaling smoke or powdered intoxicating plants”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: otbacco,tboacco,toabcco,tobaco,tobacoc,tobbacco,tobcaco,ttobacco
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tobacco - 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 "tobacco"?
What does "tobacco" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "tobacco"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “tobacco”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-O-B-A-C-C-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /təˈbæk.əʊ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Tobago” - see the side-by-side comparison. tobacco vs Tobago
- 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.