fallandovsfaltadoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#19,110
“fallando” frequency rank
#15,091
“faltado” frequency rank
34201
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fallando faltado
Definition Gerundio de fallar. Participio de faltar.

Where the eye mixes fallando and faltado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
fallando
7 ch
faltado

Visual trap between fallando and faltado

A purely visual mix-up. fallando ([faˈʝãn̪d̪o]) and faltado ([fal̪ˈt̪að̞o]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34201, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fallando is recorded at frequency rank #19,110, classified as averb, pronounced [faˈʝãn̪d̪o]. faltado is at rank #15,091, tagged as averb, pronounced [fal̪ˈt̪að̞o].

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 34201, this pair ranks #192,702 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fallando vs faltado

Shared letters: adflo. Private to "fallando": n. Private to "faltado": t.

"fallando" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "faltado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fallandoafllando · falalndo · falando · falladno · fallanddo · fallanndo · fallanod · fallnado
  • faltadoafltado · falatdo · falltado · faltaddo · faltaod · faltdao · falttado · fatlado

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fallando" for "faltado" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([faˈʝãn̪d̪o] versus [fal̪ˈt̪að̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "fallando" vs "faltado" - which ranks higher?
"faltado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,091 in our Spanish list, against #19,110 for "fallando". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "fallando" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "faltado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #192,702 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fallando" and "faltado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "faltado vs faltará". 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 #192,702 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