delatavsdelatanTell them apart

Which to use

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

#30,855
“delata” frequency rank
#48,338
“delatan” frequency rank
79193
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature delata delatan
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de delatar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de delatar.

Where the eye mixes delata and delatan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. delata runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against delatan's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
delata
7 ch
delatan

Look-alike desk: delata vs delatan

A purely visual mix-up. delata ([d̪eˈlat̪a]) and delatan ([d̪eˈlat̪ãn]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “delata” sits inside “delatan”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79193, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

delata is recorded at frequency rank #30,855, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈlat̪a]. delatan is at rank #48,338, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈlat̪ãn].

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 79193, this pair ranks #13,350 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of delata vs delatan

Shared letters: adelt. Private to "delata": -. Private to "delatan": n.

"delata" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "delatan" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • delata ← ddelata · dealta · delaat · delatta · dellata · deltaa · dleata · edlata
  • delatan ← ddelatan · dealtan · delaatn · delatann · delatna · delattan · dellatan · deltaan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "delata" for "delatan" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([d̪eˈlat̪a] versus [d̪eˈlat̪ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "delata" or "delatan"?
"delata" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,855 in our Spanish list, against #48,338 for "delatan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "delata" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "delatan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #13,350 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "delata" and "delatan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "delatan vs denotan". 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 #13,350 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