Which to use
“tell” is a verb and “tellin” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #277
- “tell” frequency rank
- #25,231
- “tellin” frequency rank
- 25508
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tell | tellin |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mental senses related to determining, reckoning, or perceiving | A marine bivalve mollusc, of the genus Tellina, that burrows in the sand, from where it siphons detritus. |
Where the eye mixes tell and tellin
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tell runs 4 letters (CVCC) against tellin's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses tell with tellin
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tell is [tʰɔː] while tellin is /ˈtɛlɪn/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “tell” sits inside “tellin”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25508, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tell is recorded at frequency rank #277, classified as averb, pronounced [tʰɔː]. tellin is at rank #25,231, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɛlɪn/.
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 25508, this pair ranks #393,745 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tell vs tellin
Shared letters: elt. Private to "tell": -. Private to "tellin": in.
"tell" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "tellin" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tell" for "tellin" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "tell" or "tellin" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tell" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tellin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #393,745 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tell" and "tellin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tellin vs trellis". 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 #393,745 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.