Which to use
“tail” and “til” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,881
- “tail” frequency rank
- #14,951
- “til” frequency rank
- 55832
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tail | til |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Schwanz | überdeckender Flechtenbewuchs auf einem Stein oder Felsen |
Where the eye mixes tail and til
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: tail vs til
A purely visual mix-up. tail ([teɪl]) and til ([tiːl]) 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 55832, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tail is recorded at frequency rank #40,881, classified as anoun, pronounced [teɪl]. til is at rank #14,951, tagged as anoun, pronounced [tiːl].
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 55832, this pair ranks #963,914 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tail vs til
Shared letters: ilt. Private to "tail": a. Private to "til": -.
"tail" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "til" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- tail ← atil · taill · tali · tial · ttail
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tail" for "til" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "tail" or "til" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "tail" and "til" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tail" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "til" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #963,914 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tail" and "til" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tail vs taut". 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 #963,914 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.