Key Difference: A tile is a piece of baked clay used in covering roofs, walls or floors. It is also a similar piece of plastic material used for covering floors. On the other hand, Mosaic tiles is one type of tile. It is used for the interior decoration or decorative art.

Dictionary.com defines ‘tiles’ as, ‘a thin slab or bent piece of baked clay, sometimes painted or gazed, used for various purposes, as to form one of the units of a roof covering, floor, or revetment.’

The word ‘Tile’ is derived from the French word ‘tuile’, which is, in turn, from the Latin word ‘tegula’, meaning a roof tile composed of fired clay. Tiles are generally used for covering roofs, floors, walls or other subjects such as the top of a table. Tiles are more suitable for harsher applications, such as flooring. They are less likely to absorb moisture and stains which afterwards may become difficult or impossible to remove. Tiles always play an important role when it comes to interior décor. Nowadays, ceramic tiles are more preferable for household’s décor, as it is the most effective and gives a beautiful effect to the room.

There are varieties of tiles and all vary in type and cost. It becomes a little tricky to choose a right tile for a right place, from thousands of designs and colors. It becomes a difficult task when you have to choose a tile for home, office, mall or airport.

The varieties of tiles are as follows:

• Ceramic tiles
• Metal tiles
• Mosaic tiles
• Vitrified tiles
• Digital tiles
• Stone tiles
• Solar
• Glazed Procelain Tiles
• Quarry Tile

Basically, ‘Mosaic tiles’ are small tiles. The term ‘mosaic’ was arrived in 1500 BC, when ancients were used to design pictures using these tiles. In the earlier days, for about 2000 years ago, it was used for designing the walls with some pictures of humans or animals. Greek and Roman mosaic and Christian’s mosaic are two types of Mosaic tiles. Mosaic tiles are small tiles, generally 2" x 2" or smaller, and always less than six square inches in area. They may be made from either a porcelain body or a clay body. Mosaic tiles may also be made with other materials, including glass, metal and natural stone.

In the older times, mosaic tiles were used for the purpose of art. Small pieces, mostly a rough square, of stone or glass of different colors, known as tesserae, are used to create a pattern or picture.

Mosaic tiles are usually used in the malls where they want to show someone’s picture. Its best quality is that it does not overlap the image. There are numerous ranges of colors and patterns that if one goes out to know more about this tile, he will definitely get confuse!

For home décor, most of the people are afraid of using mosaic tiles. They feel its a bit tricky and difficult to maintain, but that's not correct. It depends on the person and on how he’s going to take care of it because the possibilities which mosaic tiles can give are endless. It gives a classy look and it is mostly used in the bathrooms or kitchens. It adds such a texture to the room that it’s overwhelming.

Mosaic tiles, though more generally used for floors, are applied also on the walls. It gives very rich designs to walls as well as to floors. On the other hand, tiles are very popular and are more preferred than mosaic tiles. They are cheaper than mosaic tiles and seem to be more user friendly because they need little maintenance. 

Image Courtesy: flooringstuffs.com, lava360.com