Which to use
“tale” is a verb and “tape” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,971
- “tale” frequency rank
- #27,796
- “tape” frequency rank
- 77767
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tale | tape |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de talar o de talarse. | Persona aindiada, de color moreno, que conserva el tipo de los guaraníes que habitaban la reducción jesuítica de Santo Tomé Apóstol en las Misiones, a la cual se decía Provincia del Tapé. |
Where the eye mixes tale and tape
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tale and tape follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between tale and tape
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tale is [ˈt̪ale] while tape is [ˈt̪ape]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - l in “tale” becomes p in “tape”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77767, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tale is recorded at frequency rank #49,971, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈt̪ale]. tape is at rank #27,796, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪ape].
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 77767, this pair ranks #15,462 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tale vs tape
Shared letters: aet. Private to "tale": l. Private to "tape": p.
"tale" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "tape" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tale" for "tape" ever safe?
Which is more common, "tale" or "tape"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "tale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tape" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #15,462 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tale" and "tape" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tale vs task". 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 #15,462 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.