What exactly is the difference in meaning of にだけ vs だけに?

My dictionary gives an example of: 僕にだけ話してください．vs 僕だけに話してください。

These are translated as the following: Please tell it to me only/Please tell
it to me alone.

I'm slightly confused as to the difference in meaning. In English, these could
both have the same meaning, although the second can also mean that it should
be told to the teacher with no other people present (but allowing you to tell
it to other people at another time).
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2018-09-01T14:26:48.520
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grammar meaning
にだけ vs だけに　－　Difference in meaning?
No difference in meaning.

As a native speaker, I thought what is the difference here for 20 seconds, and
my conclusion is: THE SAME. They are interchangeable.
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2018-09-02T15:21:02.990
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Both Japanese sentences mean the same thing, "Tell it only to me." (The
English word "alone" can also mean "no one else is present", but here it just
means "only".)

Xにだけ and Xだけに are interchangeable in most cases, but there are exceptions.

  * Only Xだけに means "precisely because of X", "as might be expected from X" (see [this](http://www.jgram.org/pages/viewOne.php?tagE=dakeni)). Likewise, only Xだけに [introduces a pun](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/17389/5010).

> 北海道だけに寒い。 As might be expected of Hokkaido, it's cold.  
>  × 北海道にだけ寒い。 (wrong)

  * Only Xにだけ go well with the "adverbial-form" of na-adjectives.

> 部分的にだけ事実を教える。 to tell the fact only partially  
>  × 部分的だけに事実を教える。 (wrong)
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2018-09-02T15:45:10.787
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[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/BEj1s.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/BEj1s.png)

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ii2vR.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ii2vR.png)

A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar 日本語基本文法辞典
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2023-05-16T06:39:09.207
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