Which to use
“tells” and “tends” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,740
- “tells” frequency rank
- #5,922
- “tends” frequency rank
- 7662
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tells | tends |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of tell | third-person singular simple present indicative of tend |
Where the eye mixes tells and tends
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tells and tends follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses tells with tends
A purely visual mix-up. tells (/tɛlz/) and tends (/tɛndz/) 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 7662, 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/. tends is at rank #5,922, tagged as averb, pronounced /tɛndz/.
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 7662, this pair ranks #506,141 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tells vs tends
Shared letters: est. Private to "tells": l. Private to "tends": dn.
"tells" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "tends" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tells" and "tends" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "tells" or "tends" show up more?
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 "tells" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tends" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #506,141 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tells" and "tends" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tends vs tints". 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 #506,141 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.