tampovstangoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#45,618
“tampo” frequency rank
#13,623
“tango” frequency rank
59241
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tampo tango
Definition o mesmo que tampa; objeto que serve para tampar, vedar, tapar, etc estilo musical e dança a par; tem forma musical binária e compasso de dois por quatro; sua coreografia é complexa

Where the eye mixes tampo and tango

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
tampo
5 ch
tango

Visual trap between tampo and tango

A purely visual mix-up. tampo (/ˈtɐ̃.pu/) and tango (/ˈtɐ̃.ɡu/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59241, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tampo is recorded at frequency rank #45,618, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɐ̃.pu/. tango is at rank #13,623, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɐ̃.ɡu/.

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 59241, this pair ranks #8,290 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tampo vs tango

Shared letters: aot. Private to "tampo": mp. Private to "tango": gn.

"tampo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "tango" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tampoatmpo · tammpo · tamop · tamppo · tapmo · tmapo · ttampo
  • tangoatngo · tagno · tanggo · tanngo · tanog · tnago · ttango

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tampo" for "tango" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈtɐ̃.pu/ versus /ˈtɐ̃.ɡu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tampo" vs "tango" - which ranks higher?
"tango" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,623 in our Portuguese list, against #45,618 for "tampo". 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 "tampo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tango" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #8,290 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tampo" and "tango" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tampo vs trampa". 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 #8,290 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