Which to use
“tango” is a noun and “tengo” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,623
- “tango” frequency rank
- #46,588
- “tengo” frequency rank
- 60211
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tango | tengo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | estilo musical e dança a par; tem forma musical binária e compasso de dois por quatro; sua coreografia é complexa | primeira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo tener |
Letter map: tango vs tengo
Shared letters muted; letters that set tango and tengo apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. tango and tengo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Grammar separator: tango vs tengo
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tango is anoun and tengoaverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - a in “tango” becomes e in “tengo”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60211, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tango is recorded at frequency rank #13,623, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɐ̃.ɡu/. tengo is at rank #46,588, tagged as averb.
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 60211, this pair ranks #7,773 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tango vs tengo
Shared letters: gnot. Private to "tango": a. Private to "tengo": e.
"tango" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "tengo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tango" and "tengo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "tango" or "tengo"?
After this comparison
You've compared "tango" and "tengo". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "tango" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tengo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #7,773 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tango" and "tengo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "teco vs tengo". 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 #7,773 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.