Which to use
“tale” is a noun and “told” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #32,304
- “tale” frequency rank
- #44,284
- “told” frequency rank
- 76588
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tale | told |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bericht | Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs tell |
Where the eye mixes tale and told
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. tale (CVCV) and told (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between tale and told
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tale is [ˈteɪl] while told is [təʊld]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76588, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tale is recorded at frequency rank #32,304, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈteɪl]. told is at rank #44,284, tagged as averb, pronounced [təʊld].
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 76588, this pair ranks #280,405 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tale vs told
Shared letters: lt. Private to "tale": ae. Private to "told": do.
"tale" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "told" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tale" and "told" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "tale" or "told"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "tale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "told" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #280,405 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tale" and "told" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "told vs Tons". 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 #280,405 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.