Which to use
“falter” is a noun and “faulted” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,137
- “falter” frequency rank
- #40,692
- “faulted” frequency rank
- 76829
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | falter | faulted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An unsteadiness. | simple past and past participle of fault |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set falter and faulted apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: falter is anoun and faultedaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76829, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
falter is recorded at frequency rank #36,137, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɒltə/. faulted is at rank #40,692, tagged as averb.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 76829, this pair ranks #29,020 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of falter vs faulted
Shared letters: aeflt. Private to "falter": r. Private to "faulted": du.
"falter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "faulted" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "falter" and "faulted" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "falter" or "faulted"?
Remembering falter vs faulted
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “falter”; for a verb, it's “faulted”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “falter” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable