Tittle or Title: Which Spelling Is Correct? (With Examples)

The terms “tittle” and “title” seem quite consistent, with the only difference being the additional “t” in “tittle”. Because of this, folks often speculate whether or not these terms share a similar meaning and whether or not they can be used interchangeably for one another.

Tittle Or Title: Which Spelling Is Spelled?

Both the term “tittle” and the term “title” are spelled correctly, however, they do not share similar meanings and are, therefore, not interchangeable. A “tittle” is a small amount of something, while a “title” is the name of a book, movie, or another piece of artistic work(s).

For two terms to be considered interchangeable or a synonym, they must share the same or highly consistent meaning. Because “tittle” and “title” do not share the same meaning, we should never feel like it is correct to replace one with the other.

Tittle

The term “tittle” refers to a very small amount or part of something. This can be considered an insignificant portion, a measly little crumb, or even the most minute speck. At the same time, the term “tittle” is considered to be quite archaic.

In an archaic sense, this term refers to a small written or printed dot or stroke, which was meant to indicate specifically omitted letters within a word. This is especially true in the cases of a letter-like abbreviation, like the dots over specific Latin letters.

As we can see when looking at Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the term “tittle” is defined as a point or small sign used as a diacritical mark in writing or printing, or a very small part.

We will now go over the following examples, that highlight how the term “tittle” can be used in a sentence:

1. That is a tittle portion of your snack!
2. I shared a tittle of bread with a duck this morning.
3. He had a tittle of crackers left, which he gave to the birds.
4. She added just a tittle of salt to the recipe.
5. The mouse found a measly tittle of bread on the floor.
6. Her little sister was only willing to share a minuscule tittle of candy.
7. He handed me a tittle portion of the cake.

Title

The term “title” refers to the name of a book, composition, movie, or any other form of artistic work. “Title” also refers to the prefix that is added to someone’s name to highlight their marital status, or their professional title, like “Mr.”, “Mrs.”, “Doctor”, etc.

In a legal sense, we can also use the term “title” to describe the rights to the ownership of a specific property.

When looking at Cambridge Dictionary, we can see that the term “title” is defined as the name of a film, book, painting, or piece of music. “Title” is further defined as a word that is used before someone’s name, stating their social rank, qualifications, position in an organization, or sexual identity.

We will now look over the following examples that showcase how we can use the term “title” appropriately within a sentence:

1. Has she gotten the title to the land yet?
2. The title is typed out in bold print, you can’t miss it!
3. She opened suggestions up to her fanbase for the title of her new book.
4. When he finished medical school, he changed his title to Dr. Montgomery.
5. Upon being married, she changed her title from Ms. to Mrs.
6. The land title will pass by inheritance to their oldest son once they have both passed away.
7. She wanted a clever title for her newest song, but she was stumped.

Which Is Used the Most?

As we can see from the data on Google Ngram Viewer, over the last century, there has been little to no use of the term “tittle”. Opposingly, the term “title” has been used abundantly, with only a slight decline within the past few decades.

This has a lot to do with the fact that “tittle” is often considered to be far too archaic of a term to use applicably in modern-day. On the other hand, “title” is still a very common and popular term to use, with many different adequate uses.

Final Thoughts

The term “tittle” is archaic, but still carries the meaning of a small bit or part of something, while the term “title” is used abundantly and carries multiple different meanings – like the prefix of a person’s name, or the name of a song, book, movie, etc.