So what’s the difference? Both phrases have a negative connotation and both can be used to say there are (too) many of something.

The most important distinction is that だらけ refers to something is covered in many individual things, whereas ばかり suggests only one from many possibilities.

怪我して体が傷だらけだった。
To have an accident and be covered in bruises.

怪我して体が傷ばかりだった。
(Sounds unnatural—what else could you be covered in after an accident?).

You May Also Like

The Topic Particle & State of Being

There is one verb that I’m going to introduce immediately: the auxiliary verb (です). In English, we use…

Decisions: ことにする

JLPT N4. Used in both writing and conversation. We use the below structure to show that we have…

Expressing the Potential (できる)

In order to express the potential in Japanese we need to alter the verb ending. The way we…

とき versus 〜たら

The critical difference is that ~たら assumes that the prior action has been completed before the subsequent action begins.…