Which to use
“tacaño” is an adjective and “tachan” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,303
- “tacaño” frequency rank
- #48,107
- “tachan” frequency rank
- 97410
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tacaño | tachan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Se dice de la persona poco dadivosa, que valora en exceso el dinero, o que es sumamente apegada al mismo, y tiene un interés en gastar lo menos posible. | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de tachar. |
Where the eye mixes tacaño and tachan
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tacaño (CVCVCV) and tachan (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between tacaño and tachan
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tacaño is [t̪aˈkaɲo] while tachan is [ˈt̪at͡ʃãn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 97410, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tacaño is recorded at frequency rank #49,303, classified as anadj, pronounced [t̪aˈkaɲo]. tachan is at rank #48,107, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈt̪at͡ʃãn].
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 97410, this pair ranks #175 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tacaño vs tachan
Shared letters: act. Private to "tacaño": oñ. Private to "tachan": hn.
"tacaño" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "tachan" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- tachan ← atchan · tacahn · tacchan · tachann · tachhan · tachna · tahcan · tcahan
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tacaño" for "tachan" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "tacaño" or "tachan" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "tacaño" and "tachan" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tacaño" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tachan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #175 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tacaño" and "tachan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tacaño vs toscano". 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 #175 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.