Which to use
“tells” is a verb and “telly” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,740
- “tells” frequency rank
- #22,523
- “telly” frequency rank
- 24263
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tells | telly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of tell | Television. |
Where the eye mixes tells and telly
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tells (CVCCC) and telly (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses tells with telly
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tells is /tɛlz/ while telly is /ˈtɛli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - s in “tells” becomes y in “telly”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24263, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tells is recorded at frequency rank #1,740, classified as averb, pronounced /tɛlz/. telly is at rank #22,523, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɛli/.
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 24263, this pair ranks #403,258 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tells vs telly
Shared letters: elt. Private to "tells": s. Private to "telly": y.
"tells" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "telly" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tells" and "telly" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "tells" or "telly" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "tells" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "telly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #403,258 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tells" and "telly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "telco vs telly". 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 #403,258 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.