tangovsTogoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#13,623
“tango” frequency rank
#20,152
“Togo” frequency rank
33775
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tango Togo
Definition estilo musical e dança a par; tem forma musical binária e compasso de dois por quatro; sua coreografia é complexa país localizado no oeste da África, limitado a norte por Burkina Faso, a leste por Benin, a sul pelo Golfo da Guiné e a oeste por Gana; sua capital é Lomé

Where the eye mixes tango and Togo

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

5 ch
tango
4 ch
Togo

Visual trap between tango and Togo

A purely visual mix-up. tango (/ˈtɐ̃.ɡu/) and Togo (/ˈto.gʊ/) 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 33775, 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/. Togo is at rank #20,152, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈto.gʊ/.

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 33775, this pair ranks #33,643 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tango vs Togo

Shared letters: got. Private to "tango": an. Private to "Togo": -.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tangoatngo · tagno · tanggo · tanngo · tanog · tnago · ttango
  • Togootgo · tgoo · toggo · toog · ttogo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tango" and "Togo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈtɐ̃.ɡu/ versus /ˈto.gʊ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "tango" or "Togo" show up more?
"tango" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,623 in our Portuguese list, against #20,152 for "Togo". 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 "tango" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Togo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #33,643 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tango" and "Togo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Togo 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 #33,643 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