# tell

> English word · Verb · IPA [tʰɔː] · frequency rank #277

## Definitions
1. Mental senses related to determining, reckoning, or perceiving
2. Mental senses related to determining, reckoning, or perceiving
3. Mental senses related to determining, reckoning, or perceiving
4. Social senses of communicating
5. Social senses of communicating
6. Social senses of communicating
7. Social senses of communicating
8. Social senses of communicating
9. Social senses of communicating
10. Social senses of communicating
11. Abstract senses related to showing or revealing
12. Abstract senses related to showing or revealing
13. Abstract senses related to showing or revealing

## Etymology
From Middle English tellen (“to count, tell”), from Old English tellan (“to count, tell”), from Proto-West Germanic *talljan, from Proto-Germanic *taljaną, *talzijaną (“to count, enumerate”), from Proto-Germanic *talą, *talō (“number, counting”), from Proto-Indo-European *dol- (“calculation, fraud”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian tälle (“to say; tell”), West Frisian telle (“to count”), West Frisian fertelle (“to tell, narrate”), Dutch tellen (“to count”) and Dutch vertellen (“to tell”), Low German tellen (“to count”), German zählen, Faroese telja. More at tale.

## Easily confused with
- **TL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tell-vs-tl)
- **ten** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tell-vs-ten)
- **Tex** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tell-vs-tex)
- **TLC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tell-vs-tlc)
- **ter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tell-vs-ter)
- **TfL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tell-vs-tfl)
- **tet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tell-vs-tet)
- **Teo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tell-vs-teo)
- **tol** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tell-vs-tol)
- **told** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tell-vs-told)
- **term** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tell-vs-term)
- **test** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tell-vs-test)
- **text** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tell-vs-text)
- **till** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tell-vs-till)
- **tend** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tell-vs-tend)
- **tool** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tell-vs-tool)
- **toll** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tell-vs-toll)
- **tent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tell-vs-tent)
- **tens** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tell-vs-tens)
- **temp** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tell-vs-temp)

## Common misspellings (3)
`etll`, `tlel`, `ttell`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/tell