"The tallest building" vs "The highest building"

[Tom]

Hi

Are the following the same?

[Mister Micawber]

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No difference here. 'Tall' tends to refer to objects with relatively small bases, that is all.
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Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Designgauge]

Actually the terms are quite different. "Highest" refers to the overall height of the building including the height of whatever it is built on, and "tallest" is just the dimension of the buildling itself. So a three meter tall building in Katmandu is higher than the Petronas towers which are 400m tall but are built at sea level.

Another example: Mt. Everest is the highest mountain, the summit of which is at 8848m but many claim Mauna Kea is taller because the mountain starts way below sea-level and rises 10,200m to its summit.