tabledvstaleWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: tabled is a verb, tale is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tabled” is a verb and “tale” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,369
“tabled” frequency rank
#4,416
“tale” frequency rank
35785
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tabled tale
Definition simple past and past participle of table A rehearsal of what has occurred; narrative; discourse; statement; history; story.

Letter map: tabled vs tale

Shared letters muted; letters that set tabled and tale apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
tabled
4 ch
tale

Role in the sentence - tabled and tale

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tabled is averb and taleanoun. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35785, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tabled is recorded at frequency rank #31,369, classified as averb. tale is at rank #4,416, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈteːl/.

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 35785, this pair ranks #308,956 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tabled vs tale

Shared letters: aelt. Private to "tabled": bd. Private to "tale": -.

"tabled" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "tale" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tabledatbled · tabbled · tabeld · tablde · tabledd · tablled · talbed · tbaled
  • taleatle · tael · talle · tlae · ttale

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tabled" and "tale" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tabled" is a verb and "tale" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "tabled" or "tale" show up more?
"tale" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,416 in our English list, against #31,369 for "tabled". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "tabled" and "tale". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tabled" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tale" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #308,956 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tabled" and "tale" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tabled vs tanked". 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 #308,956 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list