Which HTML tag is commonly used for inserting special characters?

The use of the <span> tag is important to understand in the context of inserting special characters, as it is a versatile inline element that can be used to style or manipulate a particular segment of text within an HTML document. While the <span> tag itself does not directly insert special characters, it allows you to present or highlight portions of characters, including special characters, more effectively by applying styles or scripts.

For inserting actual special characters, developers often use HTML entities, which are typically represented using an ampersand followed by the character name or code and semicolon (e.g., & for the ampersand symbol, < for less than, and > for greater than). Although <span> does not literally insert characters, it is commonly employed in conjunction with these entities to style them appropriately when they appear in a document.

The other options listed do not serve this purpose. The <div> tag is mainly for creating block-level distinct sections of a document, <char> is not a standard HTML tag, and <special> does not exist as a valid HTML tag, making them unsuitable for manipulating or inserting special characters in an HTML context.