turn tail
"turn-tail" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“turn tail” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a verb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To turn away from someone or something, in preparation for running away; to reverse direction; to leave or flee.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | turn tail |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “turn tail” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for turn tail is 9 letters long, classified as a verb. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "To turn away from someone or something, in preparation for running away; to reverse direction; to leave or flee.".
turn tail has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is turn tail, spelled T-U-R-N- -T-A-I-L.
Definition
- 1To turn away from someone or something, in preparation for running away; to reverse direction; to leave or flee.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “turn tail”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-U-R-N- -T-A-I-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.