faltanvsfaltanteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: faltan is a verb, faltante is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#3,323
“faltan” frequency rank
#38,118
“faltante” frequency rank
41441
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature faltan faltante
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de faltar. Que no existe donde debería.

Where the eye mixes faltan and faltante

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. faltan runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against faltante's 8 (CVCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
faltan
8 ch
faltante

Look-alike desk: faltan vs faltante

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: faltan is [ˈfal̪t̪ãn] while faltante is [fal̪ˈt̪ãn̪t̪e]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “faltan” sits inside “faltante”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41441, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

faltan is recorded at frequency rank #3,323, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfal̪t̪ãn]. faltante is at rank #38,118, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fal̪ˈt̪ãn̪t̪e].

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 41441, this pair ranks #153,605 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of faltan vs faltante

Shared letters: aflnt. Private to "faltan": -. Private to "faltante": e.

"faltan" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "faltante" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • faltan ← afltan · falatn · falltan · faltann · faltna · falttan · fatlan · ffaltan
  • faltante ← afltante · falatnte · falltante · faltanet · faltannte · faltantte · faltatne · faltnate

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "faltan" and "faltante" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "faltan" is a verb and "faltante" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "faltan" or "faltante"?
"faltan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,323 in our Spanish list, against #38,118 for "faltante". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "faltan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "faltante" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #153,605 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "faltan" and "faltante" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "faltante vs faltantes". 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 #153,605 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