The mammalian tongue is a complex tissue with specialised epithelial structures including fungiform, circumvallate and foliate papillae which contain taste cells and filiform papillae, which have a role in both mastication and mechanosensation. Maintenance of the epithelium requires a constant process of renewal and regeneration of these structures. Here we applied single nuclei RNA-seq (snRNA-seq) to study the cellular composition of mouse tongue mucosa encompassing all 4 papillae types. We identify 15 major cellular populations within the murine dorsal tongue mucosa including various epithelial populations, skeletal muscle cells, immune, endothelial, schwann, salivary gland and taste cell populations. Sub clustering further split these into 44 subpopulations, including 15 epithelial subpopulations covering a continuum of basal, suprabasal and terminally differentiated apical cells. Using Multiplexed Error Robust Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (MERFISH) we determined the spatial location of 140 transcripts representing markers of all major cell types in the mammalian tongue across the whole fixed tongue in sagittal, coronal and lateral planes. This revealed the exquisite spatial distribution of each cell type within the tongue and confirmed several transient epithelial populations predicted along trajectories of differentiation (anterior column, posterior column, and interpapillary). Finally, analysis of receptor and ligand expression patterns in the epithelial populations revealed complex cell-to-cell communication signalling both between cells that give rise to different epithelial structures and between cells at different stages of the same developmental trajectory. This study is the first cellular and spatial gene expression atlas of the mammalian tongue and provides a systematic breakdown of the cell types and genes expressed in each.