Which to use
“tale” and “tine” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,416
- “tale” frequency rank
- #44,530
- “tine” frequency rank
- 48946
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tale | tine |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A rehearsal of what has occurred; narrative; discourse; statement; history; story. | A spike or point on an implement or tool, especially a prong of a fork or a tooth of a comb. |
Where the eye mixes tale and tine
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. tale and tine follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: tale vs tine
A purely visual mix-up. tale (/ˈteːl/) and tine (/taɪn/) 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 48946, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tale is recorded at frequency rank #4,416, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈteːl/. tine is at rank #44,530, tagged as anoun, pronounced /taɪn/.
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 48946, this pair ranks #188,300 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tale vs tine
Shared letters: et. Private to "tale": al. Private to "tine": in.
"tale" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "tine" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tale" for "tine" ever safe?
Frequency check: "tale" vs "tine" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #188,300 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tale" and "tine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tine vs tobe". 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 #188,300 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.