tacañovstanoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“tacaño” and “tano” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#49,303
“tacaño” frequency rank
#38,989
“tano” frequency rank
88292
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tacaño tano
Definition Se dice de la persona poco dadivosa, que valora en exceso el dinero, o que es sumamente apegada al mismo, y tiene un interés en gastar lo menos posible. Dicho de un persona, de origen italiano.

Where the eye mixes tacaño and tano

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tacaño runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against tano's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
tacaño
4 ch
tano

Look-alike desk: tacaño vs tano

A purely visual mix-up. tacaño ([t̪aˈkaɲo]) and tano ([ˈt̪ano]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 88292, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tacaño is recorded at frequency rank #49,303, classified as anadj, pronounced [t̪aˈkaɲo]. tano is at rank #38,989, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈt̪ano].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 88292, this pair ranks #3,863 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tacaño vs tano

Shared letters: aot. Private to "tacaño": cñ. Private to "tano": n.

"tacaño" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "tano" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tano ← atno · tanno · taon · tnao · ttano

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tacaño" and "tano" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([t̪aˈkaɲo] versus [ˈt̪ano]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tacaño" or "tano"?
"tano" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,989 in our Spanish list, against #49,303 for "tacaño". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tacaño" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tano" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #3,863 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tacaño" and "tano" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tacaño vs tachan". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #3,863 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list