tangovstinoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#13,623
“tango” frequency rank
#32,406
“tino” frequency rank
46029
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tango tino
Definition estilo musical e dança a par; tem forma musical binária e compasso de dois por quatro; sua coreografia é complexa juízo, siso, razão

Where the eye mixes tango and tino

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

5 ch
tango
4 ch
tino

Visual trap between tango and tino

A purely visual mix-up. tango (/ˈtɐ̃.ɡu/) and tino (/ˈti.nu/) 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 46029, 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/. tino is at rank #32,406, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈti.nu/.

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 46029, this pair ranks #19,342 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tango vs tino

Shared letters: not. Private to "tango": ag. Private to "tino": i.

"tango" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "tino" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tangoatngo · tagno · tanggo · tanngo · tanog · tnago · ttango
  • tinotinno · tion · tnio · ttino

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tango" and "tino" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈtɐ̃.ɡu/ versus /ˈti.nu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tango" vs "tino" - which ranks higher?
"tango" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,623 in our Portuguese list, against #32,406 for "tino". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tango" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tino" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #19,342 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tango" and "tino" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tino vs tufo". 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 #19,342 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