Which to use
“faltar” and “falten” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,023
- “faltar” frequency rank
- #26,847
- “falten” frequency rank
- 33870
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | faltar | falten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | No estar en un sitio. | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de faltar. |
Where the eye mixes faltar and falten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. faltar and falten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between faltar and falten
A purely visual mix-up. faltar ([fal̪ˈt̪aɾ]) and falten ([ˈfal̪t̪ẽn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33870, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
faltar is recorded at frequency rank #7,023, classified as averb, pronounced [fal̪ˈt̪aɾ]. falten is at rank #26,847, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfal̪t̪ẽn].
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 33870, this pair ranks #194,459 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of faltar vs falten
Shared letters: aflt. Private to "faltar": r. Private to "falten": en.
"faltar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "falten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "faltar" and "falten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "faltar" or "falten" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "faltar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "falten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #194,459 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "faltar" and "falten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "falten vs fate". 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 #194,459 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.