Only when you're using the REPL. They call it "interactive mode". [ls], for example, will generate an error if you put that in a tcl script run non-interactively.
Another common cause can be the difference between interactive and command modes for Tcl. When you start up a Tcl interpreter, get a prompt, and type in commands to Tcl, this is called interactive mode. In this mode, Tcl does a few extra things for you. For instance, if you type ls, and you have no proc called ls defined, Tcl will try to exec a command called ls. This sometimes misleads a new Tcl user into thinking that Tcl has ls defined." [1]
[1] https://wiki.tcl.tk/1630