tell
TELL is a four-letter word worth 4 Scrabble points, with meanings including a giveaway clue, a private chat message and a mound.
Verb 3 meanings
Mental senses related to determining, reckoning, or perceiving
“All told, there were over a dozen. Can you tell time on a clock? He had untold wealth.”
Social senses of communicating
“I want to tell a story; I want to tell you a story.”
Abstract senses related to showing or revealing
Noun 4 meanings
A reflexive, often habitual behavior, especially one occurring in a context that often features attempts at deception by persons under psychological stress (such as a poker game or police interrogation), that reveals information that the person exhibiting the behavior is attempting to withhold.
A giveaway; something that unintentionally reveals or hints at a secret.
A private message to an individual in a chat room; a whisper.
A hill or mound, originally and especially in the Middle East, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements.
Etymology
From Middle English tellen (“to count, tell”), from Old English tellan (“to count, tell”), from Proto-West Germanic *talljan, from Proto-Germanic *taljaną, *talzijaną (“to count, enumerate”), from Proto-Germanic *talą, *talō (“number, counting”), from Proto-Indo-European *dol- (“calculation, fraud”).
Similar and opposite words
TELL is familiar, but its dictionary senses stretch beyond revealing information. It can name a behavior that gives away what someone is trying to hide, the giveaway itself, a private message in a chat room, or a hill made from settlement ruins. For word games, its four low-value tiles add to a straightforward 4 points.
TELL at a glance
- TELL is a common four-letter word, with frequency rank 259.
- Its Scrabble tiles are T, E, L and L; each is worth 1 point.
- The word scores 4 points before any board-square bonuses.
- Its 24 one-letter neighbours include WELL, SELL, TILL, TALL and TOLL.
- No anagrams are recorded for the letters ELLT.
How does TELL score, and which words differ by one letter?
TELL scores 4 points in Scrabble: T is worth 1, E is worth 1, and each L is worth 1. The repeated L contributes twice, so the base total is easy to check before adding any premium-square bonuses.
Change one letter and you get familiar neighbours such as WELL, SELL, CELL, FELL, TILL and BELL. TALL and TOLL keep the first and last letters while changing the middle pair. These alternatives are useful when a rack or board fixes three of TELL’s four positions.
The full neighbour set contains 24 words, but it is not all everyday vocabulary: entries such as PELL, VELL and TELT are less familiar. Check your game's word list before relying on an obscure swap.
What does TELL mean?
A tell is a habitual or involuntary behavior that reveals information someone is trying to conceal, especially during a stressful situation involving deception. The word also means a giveaway or hint that exposes a secret. In a chat room, a tell can be a private message sent to one person.
A separate sense refers to a hill or mound formed from the ruins of an ancient settlement, especially in the Middle East. That archaeological meaning is less likely in casual conversation, but it is part of the word’s documented range.
The letters ELLT have no recorded anagrams, so rearranging them does not produce another entry in this word’s anagram set. TELL does rhyme with words such as WELL, SELL and YELL, but rhymes are not anagrams: they share an ending sound, not the same four letters.
Rhymes with tell
All rhymesOne letter away
Questions people ask
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