tellevsTellerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: telle is a adjective, Teller is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“telle” is an adjective and “Teller” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#988
“telle” frequency rank
#47,067
“Teller” frequency rank
48055
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature telle Teller
Definition Féminin singulier de tel. Assiette.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set telle and Teller apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
telle
6 ch
Teller

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: telle is \tɛl\ while Teller is \ˈtɛ.lɐ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “telle” sits inside “Teller”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48055, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

telle is recorded at frequency rank #988, classified as anadj, pronounced \tɛl\. Teller is at rank #47,067, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈtɛ.lɐ\.

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 48055, this pair ranks #182,007 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of telle vs Teller

Shared letters: elt. Private to "telle": -. Private to "Teller": r.

"telle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Teller" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • telleetlle · telel · tlele · ttelle
  • Telleretller · telelr · teler · tellerr · tellre · tleler · tteller

Frequency comparison

telle#988
Teller#47,067

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "telle" and "Teller" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "telle" is an adjective and "Teller" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "telle" or "Teller"?
"telle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #988 in our French list, against #47,067 for "Teller". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering telle vs Teller

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “telle”; for a noun, it's “Teller”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “telle” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list