Tattletale vs. Telltale — What's the Difference?

A person, especially a child, who reveals secrets or informs on others; a telltale.

Revealing, indicating, or betraying something

Reveal someone's secrets; tell tales

A person, especially a child, who reports others' wrongdoings or reveals their secrets.

One who tattles on others; an informer or talebearer.

A device or object that automatically gives a visual indication of the state or presence of something.

Revealing; telltale.

One who informs on another; a talebearer.

Telltale; giveaway

Something that indicates or reveals information; a sign.

One who tattles (reports others' wrongdoings), often a child seeking attention.

A time clock.

One who gossips, often for the sake of attention.

(Nautical) A length of yarn or ribbon attached to a shroud, stay, or sail of a sailboat, as to indicate the direction of the wind or the strength of the flow of air over the sail.

(ambitransitive) To act as a tattletale; to tell on; to give away, reveal, or expose.

A row of strips hung above a railroad track to warn a passing train of low clearance ahead.

Someone who gossips indiscreetly

(Sports) A resonant metal strip, 24 or 30 inches (61 or 76 centimeters) high, across the bottom of the front wall of a racquets or squash court above which the ball must be hit.

One who divulges private information with intent to hurt others.

An indicator, such as a warning light, that serves to warn of a hazard or problem.

(figuratively) Something that serves to reveal something else.

(music) A movable piece of ivory, lead, or other material, connected to the bellows of an organ, whose position indicates when the wind is exhausted.

(nautical) A length of yarn or ribbon attached to a sail or shroud etc to indicate the direction of the flow of the air relative to the boat.

(nautical) A mechanical attachment to the steering wheel, which, in the absence of a tiller, shows the position of the helm.

(nautical) A compass in the cabin of a vessel, usually placed where the captain can see it at all hours, and thus inform himself of the vessel's course.

(engineering) A machine or contrivance for indicating or recording something, particularly for keeping a check upon employees (factory hands, watchmen, drivers, etc.) by revealing to their employers what they have done or omitted.

A bird, the tattler.

A story or fable that has a moral or message.

Revealing something, especially something not intended to be known.

Telling tales; babbling.

One who officiously communicates information of the private concerns of others; one who tells that which prudence should suppress.

A movable piece of ivory, lead, or other material, connected with the bellows of an organ, that gives notice, by its position, when the wind is exhausted.

A mechanical attachment to the steering wheel, which, in the absence of a tiller, shows the position of the helm.

A machine or contrivance for indicating or recording something, particularly for keeping a check upon employees, as factory hands, watchmen, drivers, check takers, and the like, by revealing to their employers what they have done or omitted.

The tattler. See Tattler.

A thing that serves to disclose something or give information; a hint or indication.

An arrangement consisting of long strips, as of rope, wire, or leather, hanging from a bar over railroad tracks, in such a position as to warn freight brakemen of their approach to a low overhead bridge.

Someone who gossips indiscreetly

Disclosing unintentionally;