consultanvsconsultenTell them apart

Which to use

“consultan” and “consulten” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#44,069
“consultan” frequency rank
#48,316
“consulten” frequency rank
92385
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature consultan consulten
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de consultar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de consultar.

Where the eye mixes consultan and consulten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. consultan and consulten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
consultan
9 ch
consulten

Why the eye confuses consultan with consulten

A purely visual mix-up. consultan ([kõnˈsul̪t̪ãn]) and consulten ([kõnˈsul̪t̪ẽn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - a in “consultan” becomes e in “consulten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 92385, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

consultan is recorded at frequency rank #44,069, classified as averb, pronounced [kõnˈsul̪t̪ãn]. consulten is at rank #48,316, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõnˈsul̪t̪ẽn].

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 92385, this pair ranks #1,528 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of consultan vs consulten

Shared letters: clnostu. Private to "consultan": a. Private to "consulten": e.

"consultan" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "consulten" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • consultan ← cconsultan · cnosultan · connsultan · conslutan · conssultan · consulatn · consulltan · consultann
  • consulten ← cconsulten · cnosulten · connsulten · consluten · conssulten · consuletn · consullten · consultenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "consultan" for "consulten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kõnˈsul̪t̪ãn] versus [kõnˈsul̪t̪ẽn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "consultan" or "consulten"?
"consultan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,069 in our Spanish list, against #48,316 for "consulten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "consultan" and "consulten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "consultan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "consulten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,528 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "consultan" and "consulten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "consulté vs consulten". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,528 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list