talcovstalónTell them apart

Which to use

“talco” and “talón” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#34,366
“talco” frequency rank
#21,174
“talón” frequency rank
55540
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature talco talón
Definition Mineral blanco verdoso, un tipo de silicato de magnesio, suave al tacto, de un lustre similar al de los metales, que se encuentra en diferentes formas entre las que es la más conocida la de hojas sobrepuestas unas a otras que se separan facilmente y en este estado son transparentes y flexibles. Parte posterior del pie con la que se pisa.

Where the eye mixes talco and talón

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. talco (CVCCV) and talón (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
talco
5 ch
talón

Why the eye confuses talco with talón

A purely visual mix-up. talco ([ˈt̪alko]) and talón ([t̪aˈlõn]) 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 55540, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

talco is recorded at frequency rank #34,366, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪alko]. talón is at rank #21,174, tagged as anoun, pronounced [t̪aˈlõn].

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 55540, this pair ranks #78,427 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of talco vs talón

Shared letters: alt. Private to "talco": co. Private to "talón": nó.

"talco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "talón" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • talco ← atlco · taclo · talcco · tallco · taloc · tlaco · ttalco

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "talco" and "talón" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt̪alko] versus [t̪aˈlõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "talco" vs "talón" - which ranks higher?
"talón" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,174 in our Spanish list, against #34,366 for "talco". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "talco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "talón" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #78,427 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "talco" and "talón" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "talco vs tapo". 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 #78,427 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