Which to use
“ei” is a verb and “él” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,105
- “ei” frequency rank
- #142
- “él” frequency rank
- 9247
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ei | él |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | La tercera persona singular del verbo de negación, usado en el indicativo, en el condicional y en el potencial; "no". | Nominativo y preposicional del pronombre personal de la tercera persona del singular en el género masculino. |
Where the eye mixes ei and él
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. No shared run - shape, not overlap, is the trap.
Look-alike desk: ei vs él
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ei is [ˈe̞i̯] while él is [ˈel]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9247, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ei is recorded at frequency rank #9,105, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈe̞i̯]. él is at rank #142, tagged as apron, pronounced [ˈel].
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 9247, this pair ranks #302,514 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ei vs él
Shared letters: none. Private to "ei": ei. Private to "él": lé.
"ei" · 2 letters · shape VV · "él" · 2 letters · shape VC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ei" for "él" ever safe?
Which is more common, "ei" or "él"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "ei" and "él" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ei" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "él" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #302,514 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ei" and "él" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ei vs EPL". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #302,514 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.