tall
/tɔːl/
"tall" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tall” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #2,921) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #2,921
- frequency rank, English
- 3,151
- “T” headwords
- 3
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Having a vertical extent greater than the average. For example, somebody with a height of over 6 feet would generally be considered to be tall.
Corpus desk
Index EN-tall · tall · English
tall · rank #2,921 · 3 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #2,921
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-LOW 3 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,151
- PHOTO-FINISH survive
Nearest frequency peer: survive (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbours of confusable “tall”
Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below
- steam
steam
97,083 corpus weight
- suffered
suffered
97,082 corpus weight
- survive
survive
97,081 corpus weight
- tall
tall
97,080 corpus weight
- thats
thats
97,079 corpus weight
- theatre
theatre
97,078 corpus weight
What this shows Bars place “tall” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tall |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /tɔːl/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #2,921 |
| Misspellings tracked | 3 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Corpus rank beside confusables of “tall”
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for tall is neighbouring look-alikes ("TL", "tax", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced /tɔːl/. Frequency #2,921 among 3,151 “T” headwords. 8 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
Our generated misspelling index lists 3 likely wrong-spelling variants for tall, with forms such as "atll", "tlal", and "ttall". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "TL", "tax", "tap", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English tall, talle, tal (“seemly, becoming, handsome, good-looking, excellent, good, valiant, lively in speech, bold, great, large, big”), from Old English *tæl, ġetæl (“swift, ready, having mastery of”), from Proto-Germanic *talaz (“submissive… The correct English form is tall, spelled T-A-L-L.
Definition
- 1Having a vertical extent greater than the average. For example, somebody with a height of over 6 feet would generally be considered to be tall.
- 2Having its top a long way up; having a great vertical (and often greater than horizontal) extent.
- 3Hard to believe, such as a tall story or a tall tale.
- 4Smaller than grande, usually 8 ounces (~ 230 ml).
- 5Obsequious; obedient.
- 6Seemly; suitable; fitting, becoming, comely; attractive, handsome.
- 7Bold; brave; courageous; valiant.
- 8Fine; proper; admirable; great; excellent.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how tall appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Being tall is an advantage in basketball.
Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps,[…], and the light of the reflector fell full upon her.
Etymology
From Middle English tall, talle, tal (“seemly, becoming, handsome, good-looking, excellent, good, valiant, lively in speech, bold, great, large, big”), from Old English *tæl, ġetæl (“swift, ready, having mastery of”), from Proto-Germanic *talaz (“submissive, pliable, obedient”), from Proto-Indo-European *dol-, *del- (“to aim, calculate, adjust, reckon”). Cognate with Scots tal (“high, lofty, tall”), Old Frisian tel (“swift”), Old Saxon gital (“quick”), Old High German gizal (“active, agile”), Gothic 𐌿𐌽𐍄𐌰𐌻𐍃 (untals, “indocile, disobedient”). The Oxford English Dictionary notes: "The sense development [of tall] is remarkable, but is paralleled more or less by that of other adjectives expressing estimation, such as buxom, canny, clean, clever, cunning, deft, elegant, handsome, pretty, proper; German klein, as compared with English clean, presents the antithesis to modern tall as compared to tall in early Middle English. It has been conjectured that in the sense 'high of stature' it is a different word, adopted from the Welsh tal in some sense; but the latter is, according to Professor Rhŷs, merely a 16th-century borrowing of the English word (in Owen Pughe's Dictionary erroneously mixed up with the genuine Welsh word tal (“end, brow, forehead”), with which it has no possible connection.)"
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- atll
- tlal
- ttall
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tall - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "tall"?
What does "tall" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "tall"?
How do you pronounce "tall"?
What is the origin of the word "tall"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "tall", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).