Which to use
“tales” and “tallies” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,104
- “tales” frequency rank
- #38,644
- “tallies” frequency rank
- 44748
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tales | tallies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of tale | plural of tally |
Where the eye mixes tales and tallies
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses tales with tallies
A purely visual mix-up. tales (/teɪlz/) and tallies (/ˈtaliːs/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44748, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tales is recorded at frequency rank #6,104, classified as anoun, pronounced /teɪlz/. tallies is at rank #38,644, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtaliːs/.
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 44748, this pair ranks #227,712 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tales vs tallies
Shared letters: aelst. Private to "tales": -. Private to "tallies": i.
"tales" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "tallies" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tales" and "tallies" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "tales" vs "tallies" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "tales" and "tallies" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tales" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tallies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #227,712 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tales" and "tallies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "talkies vs tallies". 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 #227,712 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.