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

No Way

We have two ways of forming the expression “there’s no way that…” or “it’s impossible that…”—わけがない and はずがない.…

I-Adjectives & Na-Adjectives

There are two types of adjectives in Japanese: i-adjectives and na-adjectives. The type of adjective is determined by…

Changing Nouns to Adjectives: ~的

的てき as a noun means “target” or “objective”; however, this kanji has one particularly useful grammatical usage: by…

As Much As: ほど

The grammar introduced below lets us say things like, “A is not as good as B”. The noun…