tétano
/ˈtɛ.tɐ.nu/
The verdict
“tétano” has 8 generated spelling variants in the Portuguese index at frequency #44,631. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #44,631
- frequency rank, Portuguese
- 1,850
- “T” headwords
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 8
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - doença infecciosa grave que frequentemente pode levar à morte; é causada pela neurotoxina tetanospasmina que é produzida pela bactéria anaeróbica Clostridium tetani
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 | tétano |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtɛ.tɐ.nu/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #44,631 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 8 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tétano” sits in Portuguese frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 8 spelling variants around tétano (IPA /ˈtɛ.tɐ.nu/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #44,631 among 1,850 “T” headwords. Dominant gloss: "doença infecciosa grave que frequentemente pode levar à morte; é causada pela neurotoxina tetanospasmina que é produzida pela bactéria anaeróbica Clostridium tetani".
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for tétano, with forms such as "ttéano", "ttétano", and "téatno". 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 8 confusable-pair relationships, "tucano", "titânio", "tibetano", 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 explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct Portuguese form is tétano, spelled T-É-T-A-N-O.
Definition
- 1doença infecciosa grave que frequentemente pode levar à morte; é causada pela neurotoxina tetanospasmina que é produzida pela bactéria anaeróbica Clostridium tetani
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ttéano,ttétano,téatno,tétanno,tétaon,tétnao,téttano,éttano
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tétano - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "tétano"?
What does "tétano" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "tétano"?
How do you pronounce "tétano"?
What language does "tétano" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “tétano”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Portuguese spelling is T-É-T-A-N-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈtɛ.tɐ.nu/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “tucano” - see the side-by-side comparison. tétano vs tucano
- Browse more Portuguese words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Portuguese words
Same frequency band
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.