Xylophone vs. Marimba — What's the Difference?

The xylophone (from the Greek words ξύλον—xylon, "wood" + φωνή—phōnē, "sound, voice", literally meaning "sound of wood") is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel, the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano.

The marimba () is a percussion instrument consisting of a set of wooden bars struck with yarn or rubber mallets to produce musical tones. Resonators or pipes are suspended underneath the bars to amplify their sound.

A percussion instrument consisting of a mounted row of wooden bars that are graduated in length to sound a chromatic scale, played with two small mallets.

A large wooden percussion instrument with resonators, resembling a xylophone.

(musical instrument) Any musical instrument (percussion idiophone) made of wooden slats graduated so as to make the sounds of the scale when struck with a small drumstick-like mallet; the standard Western concert xylophone or one of its derivatives.

(musical instrument) A musical instrument similar to a xylophone but clearer in pitch.

To play a xylophone or to play something else as though it was a xylophone.

A musical istrument of percussion, consisting of bars yielding musical tones when struck.

To move above a ridged surface so as to hit every ridge, in a manner similar to playing quickly and sequentially on a xylophone.

A percussion instrument with wooden bars tuned to produce a chromatic scale and with resonators; played with small mallets

An instrument common among the Russians, Poles, and Tartars, consisting of a series of strips of wood or glass graduated in length to the musical scale, resting on belts of straw, and struck with two small hammers. Called in Germany strohfiedel, or straw fiddle.

An instrument to determine the vibrative properties of different kinds of wood.

A percussion instrument with wooden bars tuned to produce a chromatic scale and with resonators; played with small mallets