Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

tall tale

/tɔl ˈteɪl/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.09 in modern English

Syllables: tal-l -tale
IPA: /tɔl ˈteɪl/

8

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

3

Syllables

4

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A tale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated; also, an account of questionable veracity; a lie, an untruth.

Example Sentences

"He returned on Monday with a tall tale about a 100-pound fish he had caught."
"The head-in-sand idea is a threadbare, 2,000-year-old hand-me-down from the Roman naturalist Pliny, who sometimes passed on tall tales."

Etymology

From tall (“exaggerated”) + tale.

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /tɔl ˈteɪl/
British English: /tɔːl ˈteɪl/

Inflected Forms

tall tales (plural)

Phrases

shaggy dog story

Frequently Paired Words

shaggy dog story whopper

Synonyms

Banbury story of a cock and a bull cock-and-bull story fish story tall story traveller's tale

Rhymes With

scale mail they'll email jail fail detail retail trail rail side rail tail

Questions

How do you pronounce tall tale?: The recorded pronunciation is /tɔl ˈteɪl/.
What does tall tale mean?: A tale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated; also, an account of questionable veracity; a lie, an untruth.
Where does tall tale come from?: From tall (“exaggerated”) + tale.

How to pronounce tall tale

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “tall tale”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/tɔl ˈteɪl/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “tall tale”.
Repeat and practice — Say “tall tale” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.