There are three ablative case uses that show in what respect something is true. The fact that none of these uses requires a preposition is something else that they have in common. What distinguishes them most is where they occur and how you translate them.

The “ablative of respect” is the most common use of the ablative case to show respect.

Titus Tatius erat rē x nomine , sed nī n potestā te . (Titus Tatius was king in name, but not in power.)

Another way to look at that example is that Titus was king with respect to his name, but not with respect to power.

The “ablative of comparison” is simply an alternate way to express something you learned in the last chapter:

In other words, Marcus was pretty tall compared to Lucius. Whether you use the ablative of comparison or quam, the meaning is the same.

The “ablative of degree of difference” is a frequent companion to the ablative of comparison. When a comparison is being made, it can give you specifics as to how different the two things are.

Marcus erat multī altior quam Lucius. (Marcus was taller than Lucius by much.)

Marcus erat multī altior Luciī. (Marcus was taller than Lucius by much.)

As often happens, a word-for-word translation of the Latin into English sounds horrible. This example would be much easier on the ear if we said “Marcus was much taller than Lucius.”