tartarevstatarsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#28,372
“tartare” frequency rank
#37,579
“tatars” frequency rank
65951
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tartare tatars
Definition Relatif aux Tartares. Masculin pluriel de tatar.

Where the eye mixes tartare and tatars

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. tartare runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against tatars's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
tartare
6 ch
tatars

Visual trap between tartare and tatars

A purely visual mix-up. tartare (\taʁ.taʁ\) and tatars (\ta.taʁ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65951, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tartare is recorded at frequency rank #28,372, classified as anadj, pronounced \taʁ.taʁ\. tatars is at rank #37,579, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ta.taʁ\.

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 65951, this pair ranks #70,020 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tartare vs tatars

Shared letters: art. Private to "tartare": e. Private to "tatars": s.

"tartare" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "tatars" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tartareatrtare · taratre · tarrtare · tartaer · tartarre · tartrae · tarttare · tatrare
  • tatarsattars · taatrs · tatarrs · tatarss · tatasr · tatras · tattars · ttaars

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tartare" and "tatars" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\taʁ.taʁ\ versus \ta.taʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tartare" or "tatars"?
"tartare" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,372 in our French list, against #37,579 for "tatars". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "tartare" and "tatars" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tartare" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tatars" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,020 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tartare" and "tatars" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tatars vs Tavares". 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 #70,020 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list