fallovsfallosWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: fallo is a adjective, fallos is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fallo” is an adjective and “fallos” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,410
“fallo” frequency rank
#8,801
“fallos” frequency rank
12211
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fallo fallos
Definition En algunos juegos de naipes, falto de algún palo. Forma del plural de fallo.

Where the eye mixes fallo and fallos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
fallo
6 ch
fallos

Why the eye confuses fallo with fallos

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fallo is [ˈfaʝo] while fallos is [ˈfaʝos]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “fallo” sits inside “fallos”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12211, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fallo is recorded at frequency rank #3,410, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfaʝo]. fallos is at rank #8,801, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfaʝos].

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 12211, this pair ranks #292,336 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fallo vs fallos

Shared letters: aflo. Private to "fallo": -. Private to "fallos": s.

"fallo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "fallos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • falloafllo · falol · ffallo · flalo
  • fallosafllos · falloss · falols · ffallos · flalos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fallo" and "fallos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fallo" is an adjective and "fallos" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "fallo" or "fallos" show up more?
"fallo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,410 in our Spanish list, against #8,801 for "fallos". 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 "fallo" and "fallos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fallo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fallos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #292,336 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fallo" and "fallos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fallos vs filos". 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 #292,336 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