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

Colloquial Japanese

One gripe among Japanese learners is that they learn all these verb conjugations and honorifics and then when…

Japanese: A Language of Particles

I’m going to introduce a full Japanese sentence to give you an idea of the grammatical structure because…

To Desu or Not to Desu

As you may already be aware, the Japanese language includes honorifics and there are a number of different…

Basic Japanese Verb Conjugations

There are three different groups of verbs in Japanese—referred to as group 1, 2, and 3 in textbooks.…