talónvstesónTell them apart

Which to use

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

#21,174
“talón” frequency rank
#47,449
“tesón” frequency rank
68623
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature talón tesón
Definition Parte posterior del pie con la que se pisa. Continuidad del esfuerzo hacia una meta, en especial frente a la fatiga o adversidad.

Where the eye mixes talón and tesón

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. talón and tesón follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
talón
5 ch
tesón

Why the eye confuses talón with tesón

A purely visual mix-up. talón ([t̪aˈlõn]) and tesón ([t̪eˈsõn]) 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 68623, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

talón is recorded at frequency rank #21,174, classified as anoun, pronounced [t̪aˈlõn]. tesón is at rank #47,449, tagged as anoun, pronounced [t̪eˈsõn].

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 68623, this pair ranks #34,011 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of talón vs tesón

Shared letters: ntó. Private to "talón": al. Private to "tesón": es.

"talón" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "tesón" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "talón" for "tesón" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([t̪aˈlõn] versus [t̪eˈsõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "talón" or "tesón" show up more?
"talón" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,174 in our Spanish list, against #47,449 for "tesón". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "talón" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tesón" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #34,011 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "talón" and "tesón" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tejo vs tesón". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #34,011 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