Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell tail

What it means: The rear part of an animal or object.

In a sentence: The dog wagged its fluffy tail happily. ▶

The part people get wrong

Often misspelled as taill or tale.

Sounds like, but is not: tale. Same sound, different spelling and meaning.

Same family: tailing, tailed, follow, shadow, surveillance. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: This spy meaning of "tail" comes from the older idea of something that follows behind, like an animal’s tail. It began to be used as slang for a person who follows someone else, especially in police and criminal contexts, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

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You will hear the word and a sentence. Type it and press Enter. Then four more words from the same level, so you know where you stand.

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