flotanvsflotanteTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#38,714
“flotan” frequency rank
#16,108
“flotante” frequency rank
54822
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature flotan flotante
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de flotar. Que flota.

Where the eye mixes flotan and flotante

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

6 ch
flotan
8 ch
flotante

Why the eye confuses flotan with flotante

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: flotan is [ˈflot̪ãn] while flotante is [floˈt̪ãn̪t̪e]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “flotan” sits inside “flotante”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54822, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

flotan is recorded at frequency rank #38,714, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈflot̪ãn]. flotante is at rank #16,108, tagged as anadj, pronounced [floˈt̪ãn̪t̪e].

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 54822, this pair ranks #81,626 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of flotan vs flotante

Shared letters: aflnot. Private to "flotan": -. Private to "flotante": e.

"flotan" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "flotante" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • flotan ← fflotan · fllotan · floatn · flotann · flotna · flottan · fltoan · foltan
  • flotante ← fflotante · fllotante · floatnte · flotanet · flotannte · flotantte · flotatne · flotnate

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "flotan" and "flotante" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "flotan" is a verb and "flotante" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "flotan" vs "flotante" - which ranks higher?
"flotante" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,108 in our Spanish list, against #38,714 for "flotan". 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 "flotan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "flotante" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #81,626 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "flotan" and "flotante" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flojas vs flotan". 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 #81,626 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