tabletvstargetWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“tablet” and “target” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,634
“tablet” frequency rank
#1,619
“target” frequency rank
8253
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tablet target
Definition A slab of clay, stone or wood used for inscription. A butt or mark to shoot at, as for practice, or to test the accuracy of a firearm, or the force of a projectile.

Where the eye mixes tablet and target

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
tablet
6 ch
target

Visual trap between tablet and target

A purely visual mix-up. tablet (/ˈtæblət/) and target (/ˈtɑː.ɡɪt/) 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 8253, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tablet is recorded at frequency rank #6,634, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtæblət/. target is at rank #1,619, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɑː.ɡɪt/.

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 8253, this pair ranks #503,412 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tablet vs target

Shared letters: aet. Private to "tablet": bl. Private to "target": gr.

"tablet" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "target" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tabletatblet · tabblet · tabelt · tablett · tabllet · tablte · talbet · tbalet
  • targetatrget · tagret · taregt · targett · targget · targte · tarrget · traget

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tablet" for "target" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈtæblət/ versus /ˈtɑː.ɡɪt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tablet" or "target"?
"target" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,619 in our English list, against #6,634 for "tablet". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tablet" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "target" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #503,412 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tablet" and "target" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tarek vs target". 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 #503,412 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