tarmac

\taʁ.mak\

/\taʁ.mak\/ noun

The verdict

“tarmac” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #44,770. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#44,770
frequency rank, French
3,703
“T” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
4
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Matériau utilisé à la surface des routes, principalement dans un aéroport.

Corpus desk

Index FR-tarmac · tarmac · French

tarmac · rank #44,770 · 9 variants · 4 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #44,770
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 4 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,703
  • PHOTO-FINISH tarente

Nearest frequency peer: tarente (-1 rank slots)

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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « tarmac »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « tarmac » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

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).

tarmac vs trac
67% similar
tarmac vs tarzan
67% similar
tarmac vs tabac
67% similar

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

Key facts for tarmac
PropertyValue
Headwordtarmac
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\taʁ.mak\
Letters6
Frequency rank#44,770
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs4
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « tarmac »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.tarmacse place ici:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « tarente » (#44,769), « tapettes » (#44,768), « talion » (#44,767). Parmi 3,703 lemmes en « T », « tarmac » est au #44,770. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around tarmac (IPA \taʁ.mak\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #44,770 among 3,703 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for tarmac, with forms such as "atrmac", "tamrac", and "taramc". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "trac", "tarzan", "tabac", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is tarmac, spelled T-A-R-M-A-C.

Definition

  1. 1
    Matériau utilisé à la surface des routes, principalement dans un aéroport.
  2. 2
    Ensemble des zones de circulation et de stationnement des avions, y compris les parkings, à l’exclusion de la piste d’atterrissage.
  3. 3
    Surface d'atterrissage des appareils sur un porte-avions.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Le tarmac est un liant à base de goudron et utilisé par une entreprise anglaise pour l’enrobage du laitier des hauts fourneaux.
  2. L’entreprise de génie civil posa également, autour de la maison, un tarmac de macadam gris d’une largeur de dix mètres.

Synonyms

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • atrmac
  • tamrac
  • taramc
  • tarmacc
  • tarmca
  • tarmmac
  • tarrmac
  • tramac
  • ttarmac

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tarmac - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

atrmac2tamrac2taramc2tarmacc1tarmca2tarmmac1tarrmac1tramac2
Edit distance from "tarmac"

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 "tarmac"?
"tarmac" is spelled T-A-R-M-A-C. The IPA pronunciation is \taʁ.mak\.
What does "tarmac" mean?
As a noun, "tarmac" means: Matériau utilisé à la surface des routes, principalement dans un aéroport.
What words are commonly confused with "tarmac"?
"tarmac" is commonly confused with "trac", "tarzan", "tabac". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "tarmac"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "tarmac" is \taʁ.mak\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "tarmac" come from?
"tarmac" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "tarmac", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list