Is It “Tale” or “Tail”?
Tale is a noun that refers to a story or narration of events.
Tail can be used as a verb that means “to follow closely” or a noun that refers to the “prolonged rear end of an animal.”
What Does “Tale” Mean?
Tale is a noun that refers to the telling of a story or series of events that could be fictitious or factual.
What Does “Tail” Mean?
Tail can be used as a noun and a verb. When used as a noun, a tail refers to the prolonged rear end of an animal.
As a noun, tail can also refer to “the back, last, or lower part of something.”
When used as a verb, (to) tail describes the “action of following someone closely, often in secret.”
Although it’s not common, this word can also mean “to provide with a tail.”
How Do You Use “Tail” and “Tale” in a Sentence?
Here are a few examples of tail and tale used in a sentence and synonyms you can use instead.
| Example Sentence | Synonyms | Verb or Noun |
|---|---|---|
| The police tailed the suspect. | Followed, pursued, chased | Verb |
| We heard so many tales, we didn’t know which ones were real and which ones were fake. | Narratives, accounts, reports | Noun |
| My daughter tries to come up with her own tales. | Myths, fables, stories | Noun |
| During the massive fires, many animals hurt their tails. | Backends, behinds, rears | Noun |
Homophones (words with identical pronunciation but different meanings) like tail and tale are easy to mix up. LanguageTool is an easy-to-use writing assistant that guarantees you always use the correct version of a word and that your text is free of spelling and grammar errors.
