taborvstalonWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#38,191
“tabor” frequency rank
#30,254
“talon” frequency rank
68445
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tabor talon
Definition A small drum. A sharp, hooked claw of a bird of prey or other predatory animal.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tabor and talon apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
tabor
5 ch
talon

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. tabor (/ˈteɪbə(ɹ)/) and talon (/ˈtælən/) 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 68445, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tabor is recorded at frequency rank #38,191, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈteɪbə(ɹ)/. talon is at rank #30,254, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtælən/.

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 68445, this pair ranks #58,832 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tabor vs talon

Shared letters: aot. Private to "tabor": br. Private to "talon": ln.

"tabor" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "talon" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • taboratbor · tabbor · taborr · tabro · taobr · tbaor · ttabor
  • talontallon · talno · talonn · taoln · tlaon · ttalon

Frequency comparison

tabor#38,191
talon#30,254

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tabor" and "talon" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈteɪbə(ɹ)/ versus /ˈtælən/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tabor" or "talon"?
"talon" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,254 in our English list, against #38,191 for "tabor". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering tabor vs talon

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tabor” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list