tango
\ˈtaŋɡo\
The verdict
“tango” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #12,681 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #12,681
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - (radiotéléphonie) Mot de code radiotéléphonique de l'OACI, OTAN et SIA pour la lettre latine T.
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 | tango |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ˈtaŋɡo\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #12,681 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tango” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for tango is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ˈtaŋɡo\. Corpus data places it at rank #12,681 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for tango, with forms such as "atngo", "tagno", and "tanggo". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "tant", "tank", "Togo", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is tango, spelled T-A-N-G-O.
Definition
- 1(radiotéléphonie) Mot de code radiotéléphonique de l'OACI, OTAN et SIA pour la lettre latine T.
- 2Pavillon du code international des signaux maritimes correspondant à la lettre T.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: atngo,tagno,tanggo,tanngo,tanog,tnago,ttango
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tango - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "tango"?
What does "tango" mean?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “tango”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is T-A-N-G-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ˈtaŋɡo\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “tant” - see the side-by-side comparison. tango vs tant
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French 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.