tillvstiltWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“till” and “tilt” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#36,617
“till” frequency rank
#34,331
“tilt” frequency rank
70948
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature till tilt
Definition Graine oléagineuse venant de l’Inde. Mécanisme destiné à interrompre une partie de flipper quand le joueur triche en soulevant l'appareil de façon à en modifier l'inclinaison.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set till and tilt apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
till
4 ch
tilt

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. till (\til\) and tilt (\tilt\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - l in “till” becomes t in “tilt”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70948, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

till is recorded at frequency rank #36,617, classified as anoun, pronounced \til\. tilt is at rank #34,331, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tilt\.

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 70948, this pair ranks #49,379 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of till vs tilt

Shared letters: ilt. Private to "till": -. Private to "tilt": -.

"till" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "tilt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tillitll · tlil · ttill
  • tiltitlt · tillt · tiltt · titl · tlit · ttilt

Frequency comparison

till#36,617
tilt#34,331

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "till" and "tilt" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\til\ versus \tilt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "till" or "tilt"?
"tilt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,331 in our French list, against #36,617 for "till". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering till vs tilt

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “till” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list