talkievstalliesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#36,368
“talkie” frequency rank
#38,644
“tallies” frequency rank
75012
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature talkie tallies
Definition A movie with sound, as opposed to a silent film. plural of tally

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set talkie and tallies apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
talkie
7 ch
tallies

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. talkie (/ˈtɔːki/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75012, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

talkie is recorded at frequency rank #36,368, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɔːki/. 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 75012, this pair ranks #34,504 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of talkie vs tallies

Shared letters: aeilt. Private to "talkie": k. Private to "tallies": s.

"talkie" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "tallies" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • talkieatlkie · taklie · talike · talkei · talkkie · tallkie · tlakie · ttalkie
  • talliesatllies · talies · taliles · talleis · talliess · tallise · tlalies · ttallies

Frequency comparison

talkie#36,368
tallies#38,644

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "talkie" and "tallies" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈtɔːki/ versus /ˈtaliːs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "talkie" or "tallies"?
"talkie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,368 in our English list, against #38,644 for "tallies". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering talkie vs tallies

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 “talkie” 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