tarovstarotWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“taro” and “tarot” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#37,091
“taro” frequency rank
#29,563
“tarot” frequency rank
66654
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature taro tarot
Definition Tubercule comestible de diverses plantes de la famille des Araceae (Aracées), sauf le taro chinois qui est de la famille des Alismatacées. Sorte de carte à jouer tarotée et marquée d’autres figures que les cartes ordinaires.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set taro and tarot apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
taro
5 ch
tarot

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. taro and tarot are pronounced identically (\ta.ʁo\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “taro” sits inside “tarot”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66654, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

taro is recorded at frequency rank #37,091, classified as anoun, pronounced \ta.ʁo\. tarot is at rank #29,563, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ta.ʁo\.

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 66654, this pair ranks #66,897 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of taro vs tarot

Shared letters: aort. Private to "taro": -. Private to "tarot": -.

"taro" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "tarot" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • taroatro · taor · tarro · trao · ttaro
  • tarotatrot · taort · tarott · tarrot · tarto · traot · ttarot

Frequency comparison

taro#37,091
tarot#29,563

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "taro" and "tarot" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ta.ʁo\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "taro" or "tarot"?
"tarot" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,563 in our French list, against #37,091 for "taro". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering taro vs tarot

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “taro” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list