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tail ~ tail ~ tale

[the same pronunciation, as in ‘tail’ which rhymes with “sale”, “bale” or “pale”]

“Tail” (noun) is ‘(of an animal, including fish and birds, and the most common meaning of this word) the back part of an animal that is usually long, slender, and in mammals with a tuft of hair at the end, that sticks out and can be moved freely; (of a vehicle, such as aircraft) the end par; (of a person’s dinner jacket or coat) the back part which is longer and divided in to two pointed ends that is worn on special occasions; (of a coin, usually in plural – tails) one side that has numbers, and is called when tossing in the air to make a choice; the back part of something, such as a precession, marching soldiers, or a period of time, that become thinner or slower, and finally disappears or stops’,

e.g.

Some kinds of monkeys have long tails with which they can hang on to the braches of trees.

My dog wags its short tail on seeing me.

The captains of both the teams are invited to call heads or tails to decide who is to start the game first.

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“Tail”, as a noun, is ‘the act of following somebody closely and secretly in order to find out their activities; the person who follows somebody secretly’; as a verb, it is ‘to follow somebody closely and secretly to know what they are doing’,

e.g.

His wife is so jealous that she’s put a tail (a private detective) on her husband.

The police have tailed the suspect for months to catch him red-handed.   [i.e. the police followed the suspect secretly]

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“Tale” (noun) is ‘a long description of something happened; a story about some imaginary events, people or animals’,

{A ‘tell-tale’  is some sign that shows us that something has happened or going to happen, e.g.” The tell-tale smell of her perfume indicated that she had been in that room and had just left.”}

e.g.

The traveller told us some tales of his adventures.

She’s so innocent that she’ll believe any fairy tale.

Compare:

‘The tales of the horse tails’ is an interesting story book.

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