talavstangaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“tala” and “tanga” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#36,251
“tala” frequency rank
#29,927
“tanga” frequency rank
66178
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tala tanga
Definition a moeda de Samoa pano utilizado para cobrir o corpo desde o ventre às coxas

Where the eye mixes tala and tanga

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tala runs 4 letters (CVCV) against tanga's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
tala
5 ch
tanga

Look-alike desk: tala vs tanga

A purely visual mix-up. tala (/ˈta.lɐ/) and tanga (/ˈtɐ̃.ɡɐ/) 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 66178, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tala is recorded at frequency rank #36,251, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈta.lɐ/. tanga is at rank #29,927, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɐ̃.ɡɐ/.

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 66178, this pair ranks #5,081 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tala vs tanga

Shared letters: at. Private to "tala": l. Private to "tanga": gn.

"tala" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "tanga" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tala ← taal · talla · tlaa · ttala
  • tanga ← atnga · tagna · tanag · tangga · tannga · tnaga · ttanga

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tala" for "tanga" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈta.lɐ/ versus /ˈtɐ̃.ɡɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tala" or "tanga"?
"tanga" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,927 in our Portuguese list, against #36,251 for "tala". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tala" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tanga" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #5,081 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tala" and "tanga" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tala vs tosa". 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 #5,081 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list