To tell the difference between two people or things is to see how they are unlike each other. It's hard to tell the difference [= distinguish] between one action movie and another. The new version is supposed to be much better than the old one, but I can't tell the difference (between them). To distinguish or differentiate. These nouns refer to a lack of correspondence or agreement. Difference is the most general: differences in color and size; a difference of degree but not of kind. In math, a difference is the remainder left after subtracting one number from another. Chimps and gorillas are both apes, but there are a lot of differences between them. DIFFERENCE definition: the state or relation of being different; dissimilarity. See examples of difference used in a sentence. There's a big difference between starting up a business and just talking about it. The things which bind the two of them together are greater than their differences. There's a big difference between starting up a business and just talking about it. The things which bind the two of them together are greater than their differences. Percentage difference is usually calculated when you want to know the difference in percentage between two numbers. For this calculator, the order of the numbers does not matter as we are simply dividing the difference between two numbers by the average of the two numbers. This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Difference. If an internal link incorrectly led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. The meaning of DIFFERENCE is the quality or state of being dissimilar or different. How to use difference in a sentence. From Middle English difference, from Old French difference, from Latin differentia (“difference”), from differēns (“different”), present participle of differre.