Head vs. Tongue — What's the Difference?

The head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste, respectively. Some very simple animals may not have a head, but many bilaterally symmetric forms do, regardless of size.

The tongue is a muscular organ in the mouth of a typical vertebrate. It manipulates food for mastication and swallowing as part of the digestive process, and is the primary organ of taste.

The upper part of the human body, or the front or upper part of the body of an animal, typically separated from the rest of the body by a neck, and containing the brain, mouth, and sense organs.

The fleshy muscular organ in the mouth of a mammal, used for tasting, licking, swallowing, and (in humans) articulating speech.

A thing resembling a head either in form or in relation to a whole.

Used in reference to a person's style or manner of speaking

The front, forward, or upper part or end of something.

A strip of leather or fabric under the laces in a shoe, attached only at the front end.

A person in charge of something; a director or leader

The free-swinging metal piece inside a bell which is made to strike the bell to produce the sound.

A person considered as a numerical unit

A long, low promontory of land.

A component in an audio, video, or information system by which information is transferred from an electrical signal to the recording medium, or vice versa.

A projecting strip on a wooden board fitting into a groove on another.

A body of water kept at a particular height in order to provide a supply at sufficient pressure

The vibrating reed of a musical instrument or organ pipe.

A toilet on a ship or boat

A jet of flame

The word that governs all the other words in a phrase in which it is used, having the same grammatical function as the whole phrase.

Sound (a note) distinctly on a wind instrument by interrupting the air flow with the tongue

A superficial deposit of rock fragments, formed at the edge of an ice sheet by repeated freezing and thawing and then moved downhill.

Lick or caress with the tongue

A group of pheasants

The fleshy, movable, muscular organ, attached in most vertebrates to the floor of the mouth, that is the principal organ of taste, an aid in chewing and swallowing, and, in humans, an important organ of speech.

Chief; principal

An analogous organ or part in invertebrate animals, as in certain insects or mollusks.

Be in the leading position on

The tongue of an animal, such as a cow, used as food.

Give a title or caption to

A spoken language or dialect.

Move in a specified direction

Speech; talk

Shoot or pass (the ball) with the head

The act or power of speaking

Lop off the upper part or branches of (a plant or tree)

Tongues Speech or vocal sounds produced in a state of religious ecstasy.

(of a lettuce or cabbage) form a head.

Style or quality of utterance

The uppermost or forwardmost part of the body of a vertebrate, containing the brain and the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and jaws.

The bark or baying of a hunting dog that sees game

The analogous part of an invertebrate organism.

The vibrating end of a reed in a wind instrument.

The length or height of such a part

A flame.

The seat of the faculty of reason; intelligence, intellect, or mind

The flap of material under the laces or buckles of a shoe.

Mental ability or aptitude

A spit of land; a promontory.

Freedom of choice or action

A bell clapper.

A habitual drug user. Often used in combination

The harnessing pole attached to the front axle of a horse-drawn vehicle.

An enthusiast. Often used in combination

A protruding strip along the edge of a board that fits into a matching groove on the edge of another board.

A person considered foolish or contemptible. Often used in combination

(Music) To separate or articulate (notes played on a brass or wind instrument) by shutting off the stream of air with the tongue.

A portrait or representation of a person's head.

To touch or lick with the tongue.

Often heads (used with a sing. verb) The side of a coin having the principal design, often the profile of a political leader's head.

To give (someone) a French-kiss.

(Informal) A headache

To provide (a board) with a tongue.

An individual; a person

To join by means of a tongue and groove.

Pl. head A single animal

(Archaic) To scold.

A person who leads, rules, or is in charge; a leader, chief, or director

(Music) To articulate notes on a brass or wind instrument.

A headmaster or headmistress.

To project

The foremost or leading position

The flexible muscular organ in the mouth that is used to move food around, for tasting and that is moved into various positions to modify the flow of air from the lungs in order to produce different sounds in speech.

A headwaiter.

This organ, as taken from animals used for food (especially cows).

The difference in depth of a liquid at two given points.

Any similar organ, such as the lingual ribbon, or odontophore, of a mollusk; the proboscis of a moth or butterfly; or the lingua of an insect.

The measure of pressure at the lower point expressed in terms of this difference.

(metonym) A language.

The pressure exerted by a liquid or gas

(obsolete) Speakers of a language, collectively.

The liquid or gas exerting the pressure.

(obsolete) Voice the distinctive sound of a person's speech; accent distinctive manner of pronouncing a language.

The froth or foam that rises to the top in pouring an effervescent liquid, such as beer.

Manner of speaking, often habitually.

The tip of an abscess, boil, or pimple, in which pus forms.

(metonym) A person speaking in a specified manner (most often plural).

A turning point; a crisis

The power of articulate utterance; speech generally.

A projection, weight, or fixture at the end of an elongated object

(obsolete) Discourse; fluency of speech or expression.

The working end of a tool or implement

Discourse; fluency of speech or expression.

The looped part at the end a lacrosse stick, to which the webbing is attached.

(obsolete) Honourable discourse; eulogy.

The part of an explosive device that carries the explosive; a warhead.

Glossolalia.

The part of a stringed instrument where the strings are wound; a tuning head.

In a shoe, the flap of material that goes between the laces and the foot (so called because it resembles a tongue in the mouth).

A tuning machine.

Any large or long physical protrusion on an automotive or machine part or any other part that fits into a long groove on another part.

The rounded proximal end of a long bone

A projection, or slender appendage or fixture.

The end of a muscle that is attached to the less movable part of the skeleton.

A long, narrow strip of land, projecting from the mainland into a sea or lake.

An attachment to or part of a machine that holds or contains the operative device.

The pole of a vehicle; especially, the pole of an ox cart, to the end of which the oxen are yoked.

The magnetic head of a tape recorder or VCR.

The clapper of a bell.

The device in a magnetic disk or tape drive that enables it to read data from and write data to the disk or tape.

(figuratively) An individual point of flame from a fire.

A rounded compact mass, as of leaves or buds

A small sole (type of fish).

(Botany) A flower head.

(nautical) A short piece of rope spliced into the upper part of standing backstays, etc.; also, the upper main piece of a mast composed of several pieces.

The uppermost part; the top

(music) A reed.

The end considered the most important

(geology) A division of formation; A layer or member of a formation that pinches out in one direction.

Either end of an object, such as a drum, whose two ends are interchangeable.

On a wind instrument, to articulate a note by starting the air with a tap of the tongue, as though by speaking a 'd' or 't' sound (alveolar plosive).

The forward part of a vessel.

(slang) To manipulate with the tongue, as in kissing or oral sex.

The top part or upper edge of a sail.

To protrude in relatively long, narrow sections.

A toilet, especially on a ship.

To join by means of a tongue and groove.

A passage or gallery in a coal mine.

To talk; to prate.

The top of a book or page.

To speak; to utter.

A headline or heading.

To chide; to scold.

A distinct topic or category

An organ situated in the floor of the mouth of most vertebrates and connected with the hyoid arch.

Headway; progress.

The power of articulate utterance; speech.

(Linguistics) The word determining the grammatical category of a constituent, often establishing relations of concord or agreement (such as subject-verb agreement) with other constituents.

Discourse; fluency of speech or expression.

Vulgar Slang Oral sex.

Honorable discourse; eulogy.

Of, relating to, or intended for the head. Often used in combination

A language; the whole sum of words used by a particular nation; as, the English tongue.

Foremost in rank or importance

Speech; words or declarations only; - opposed to thoughts or actions.

Placed at the top or the front

A people having a distinct language.

(Slang) Of, relating to, or for drugs or drug users.

The lingual ribbon, or odontophore, of a mollusk.

To be in charge of; lead

Any small sole.

To be in the first or foremost position of

That which is considered as resembing an animal's tongue, in position or form.

To aim, point, or turn in a certain direction

A projection, or slender appendage or fixture; as, the tongue of a buckle, or of a balance.

To remove the head or top of.

A projection on the side, as of a board, which fits into a groove.

(Sports) To hit (a soccer ball) in the air with one's head.

A point, or long, narrow strip of land, projecting from the mainland into a sea or a lake.

To provide with a head

The pole of a vehicle; especially, the pole of an ox cart, to the end of which the oxen are yoked.

To proceed or go in a certain direction

The clapper of a bell.

To form a head, as lettuce or cabbage.

A short piece of rope spliced into the upper part of standing backstays, etc.; also. the upper main piece of a mast composed of several pieces.

To originate, as a stream or river; rise.

To speak; to utter.

(countable) The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.

To chide; to scold.

(people) To do with heads.

To modulate or modify with the tongue, as notes, in playing the flute and some other wind instruments.

(animals) To do with heads.

To join means of a tongue and grove; as, to tongue boards together.

(countable) The topmost, foremost, or leading part.

To talk; to prate.

The end of a table.

To use the tongue in forming the notes, as in playing the flute and some other wind instruments.

(countable) The principal operative part of a machine or tool.

A mobile mass of muscular tissue covered with mucous membrane and located in the oral cavity

The foam that forms on top of beer or other carbonated beverages.

A human written or spoken language used by a community; opposed to e.g. a computer language

(engineering) The end cap of a cylindrically-shaped pressure vessel.

Any long thin projection that is transient;

(coopering) The end cap of a cask or other barrel.

A manner of speaking;

(geology) The uppermost part of a valley.

A narrow strip of land that juts out into the sea

Deposits near the top of a geological succession.

The tongue of certain animals used as meat

(journalism) headline

The flap of material under the laces of a shoe or boot

(medicine) The end of an abscess where pus collects.

Metal striker that hangs inside a bell and makes a sound by hitting the side

(music) The headstock of a guitar.

Articulate by tonguing, as when playing wind instruments

(nautical) A leading component.

Lick or explore with the tongue

(British) A headland.

A leader or expert.

The place of honour, or of command; the most important or foremost position; the front.

(metonymy) Leader; chief; mastermind.

(metonymy) A headmaster or headmistress.

A person with an extensive knowledge of hip hop.

A significant or important part.

A beginning or end, a protuberance.

A component.

Headway; progress.

Topic; subject.

Denouement; crisis.

(fluid dynamics) Pressure and energy.

A buildup of fluid pressure, often quantified as pressure head.

The difference in elevation between two points in a column of fluid, and the resulting pressure of the fluid at the lower point.

More generally, energy in a mass of fluid divided by its weight.

Fellatio or cunnilingus; oral sex.

(slang) The glans penis.

A heavy or habitual user of illicit drugs.

(obsolete) Power; armed force.

Of, relating to, or intended for the head.

Foremost in rank or importance.

Placed at the top or the front.

Coming from in front.

(transitive) To be in command of. (See also head up.)

(transitive) To come at the beginning or front of; to commence.

(transitive) To strike with the head; as in soccer, to head the ball

(intransitive) To move in a specified direction.

(fishing) To remove the head from a fish.

(intransitive) To originate; to spring; to have its course, as a river.

(intransitive) To form a head.

(transitive) To form a head to; to fit or furnish with a head.

(transitive) To cut off the top of; to lop off.

To behead; to decapitate.

To go in front of.

To get in the front of, so as to hinder or stop; to oppose.

(by extension) To check or restrain.

To set on the head.

The anterior or superior part of an animal, containing the brain, or chief ganglia of the nervous system, the mouth, and in the higher animals, the chief sensory organs; poll; cephalon.

The uppermost, foremost, or most important part of an inanimate object; such a part as may be considered to resemble the head of an animal; often, also, the larger, thicker, or heavier part or extremity, in distinction from the smaller or thinner part, or from the point or edge; as, the head of a cane, a nail, a spear, an ax, a mast, a sail, a ship; that which covers and closes the top or the end of a hollow vessel; as, the head of a cask or a steam boiler.

The place where the head should go; as, the head of a bed, of a grave, etc.; the head of a carriage, that is, the hood which covers the head.

The most prominent or important member of any organized body; the chief; the leader; as, the head of a college, a school, a church, a state, and the like.

The place or honor, or of command; the most important or foremost position; the front; as, the head of the table; the head of a column of soldiers.

Each one among many; an individual; - often used in a plural sense; as, a thousand head of cattle.

The seat of the intellect; the brain; the understanding; the mental faculties; as, a good head, that is, a good mind; it never entered his head, it did not occur to him; of his own head, of his own thought or will.

The source, fountain, spring, or beginning, as of a stream or river; as, the head of the Nile; hence, the altitude of the source, or the height of the surface, as of water, above a given place, as above an orifice at which it issues, and the pressure resulting from the height or from motion; sometimes also, the quantity in reserve; as, a mill or reservoir has a good head of water, or ten feet head; also, that part of a gulf or bay most remote from the outlet or the sea.

A headland; a promontory; as, Gay Head.

A separate part, or topic, of a discourse; a theme to be expanded; a subdivision; as, the heads of a sermon.

Culminating point or crisis; hence, strength; force; height.

Power; armed force.

A headdress; a covering of the head; as, a laced head; a head of hair.

An ear of wheat, barley, or of one of the other small cereals.

A dense cluster of flowers, as in clover, daisies, thistles; a capitulum.

The antlers of a deer.

A rounded mass of foam which rises on a pot of beer or other effervescing liquor.

Tiles laid at the eaves of a house.

Principal; chief; leading; first; as, the head master of a school; the head man of a tribe; a head chorister; a head cook.

To be at the head of; to put one's self at the head of; to lead; to direct; to act as leader to; as, to head an army, an expedition, or a riot.

To form a head to; to fit or furnish with a head; as, to head a nail.

To behead; to decapitate.

To cut off the top of; to lop off; as, to head trees.

To go in front of; to get in the front of, so as to hinder or stop; to oppose; hence, to check or restrain; as, to head a drove of cattle; to head a person; the wind heads a ship.

To set on the head; as, to head a cask.

To originate; to spring; to have its source, as a river.

To go or point in a certain direction; to tend; as, how does the ship head?

To form a head; as, this kind of cabbage heads early.

The upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains;

A single domestic animal;

That which is responsible for one's thoughts and feelings; the seat of the faculty of reason;

A person who is in charge;

The front of a military formation or procession;

The pressure exerted by a fluid;

The top of something;

The source of water from which a stream arises;

(grammar) the word in a grammatical constituent that plays the same grammatical role as the whole constituent

The tip of an abscess (where the pus accumulates)

The length or height based on the size of a human or animal head;

A dense clusters of flowers or foliage;

The educator who has executive authority for a school;

An individual person;

A user of (usually soft) drugs;

A rounded compact mass;

The foam or froth that accumulates at the top when you pour an effervescent liquid into a container;

The part in the front or nearest the viewer;

A difficult juncture;

Forward movement;

A V-shaped mark at one end of an arrow pointer;

The subject matter at issue;

A line of text serving to indicate what the passage below it is about;

The rounded end of a bone that bits into a rounded cavity in another bone to form a joint;

That part of a skeletal muscle that is away from the bone that it moves

(computer science) a tiny electromagnetic coil and metal pole used to write and read magnetic patterns on a disk

(usually plural) an obverse side of a coin that bears the representation of a person's head;

The striking part of a tool;

(nautical) a toilet on board a boat or ship

A projection out from one end;

A membrane that is stretched taut over a drum

Oral-genital stimulation;

To go or travel towards;

Be in charge of;

Travel in front of; go in advance of others;

Be the first or leading member of (a group) and excel;

Direct the course; determine the direction of travelling

Take its rise;

Be in the front of or on top of;

Form a head or come or grow to a head;

Remove the head of;