falconvsfaltanTell them apart

Quick tell: falcon is a noun, faltan is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“falcon” is a noun and “faltan” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,731
“falcon” frequency rank
#3,323
“faltan” frequency rank
23054
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature falcon faltan
Definition Halcón. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de faltar.

Where the eye mixes falcon and faltan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. falcon and faltan follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
falcon
6 ch
faltan

Why the eye confuses falcon with faltan

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: falcon is /ˈfɔːlkən/ while faltan is [ˈfal̪t̪ãn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23054, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

falcon is recorded at frequency rank #19,731, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɔːlkən/. faltan is at rank #3,323, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfal̪t̪ãn].

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 23054, this pair ranks #247,581 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of falcon vs faltan

Shared letters: afln. Private to "falcon": co. Private to "faltan": t.

"falcon" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "faltan" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • falcon ← aflcon · faclon · falccon · falcno · falconn · fallcon · falocn · ffalcon
  • faltan ← afltan · falatn · falltan · faltann · faltna · falttan · fatlan · ffaltan

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "falcon" and "faltan" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "falcon" is a noun and "faltan" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "falcon" vs "faltan" - which ranks higher?
"faltan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,323 in our Spanish list, against #19,731 for "falcon". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "falcon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "faltan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #247,581 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "falcon" and "faltan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "falcon vs falo". 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 #247,581 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