Which to use
“table” and “tails” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #958
- “table” frequency rank
- #11,622
- “tails” frequency rank
- 12580
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | table | tails |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Furniture with a top surface to accommodate a variety of uses. | plural of tail |
Where the eye mixes table and tails
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. table (/ˈteɪbl̩/) and tails (/teɪlz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12580, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
table is recorded at frequency rank #958, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈteɪbl̩/. tails is at rank #11,622, tagged as anoun, pronounced /teɪlz/.
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 12580, this pair ranks #480,732 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of table vs tails
Shared letters: alt. Private to "table": be. Private to "tails": is.
"table" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "tails" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC