tale
/ˈteɪl/noun, verb
tale is spelled T-A-L-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 19 times per million words in written English, the 4,365th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “tail vs tale” about 480 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, tale means “A rehearsal of what has occurred; narrative; discourse; statement; history; story” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of tale is tales.
How many letters and syllables are in tale?
| Letters | 4: T-A-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 19 times per million words; the 4,365th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is tale?
Tale appears 19 times per million words in written English, the 4,365th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce tale?
- US /ˈteɪl/
- US [ˈtʰeɪ̯ɫ]
- Australia /ˈtæɪ̯l/
Tale has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-tale.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with tale
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with tale?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as tale from its last stressed vowel (/eɪl/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: late, teal, tela, leat, tael.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of tale
- tales plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- taling participle, present
- taled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does tale mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A rehearsal of what has occurred; narrative; discourse; statement; history; story.
the Canterbury Tales
- 2
A number told or counted off; a reckoning by count; an enumeration.
- 3
slangThe fraudulent opportunity presented by a confidence man to the mark or victim.
- 4
An account of an asserted fact or circumstance; a rumour; a report, especially an idle or malicious story; a piece of gossip or slander; a lie.
Don't tell tales!
- 5
obsoleteNumber; tally; quota.
- 6
obsoleteAccount; estimation; regard; heed.
- 7
obsoleteSpeech; language.
- 8
obsoleteA speech; a statement; talk; conversation; discourse.
- 9
Alternative form of tael.
verb
- 1
obsoleteTo speak; discourse; tell tales.
- 2
ScotlandTo reckon; consider (someone) to have something.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Tale in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense type of story:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | conte |
| German | Märchen, Sage, Geschichte, Erzählung |
| Portuguese | conto, história, fábula |
| Spanish | cuento, historia, conseja |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does tale come from?
From Middle English tale, from Old English talu (“tale, series, calculation”), from Proto-West Germanic *talu, from Proto-Germanic *talō (“calculation, number”), from Proto-Indo-European *del- (“to reckon, count”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).