eivsEvaTell them apart

Quick tell: ei is a verb, Eva is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ei” is a verb and “Eva” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,105
“ei” frequency rank
#5,002
“Eva” frequency rank
14107
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ei Eva
Definition La tercera persona singular del verbo de negación, usado en el indicativo, en el condicional y en el potencial; "no". Nombre de pila de mujer.

Where the eye mixes ei and Eva

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch
ei
3 ch
Eva

Look-alike desk: ei vs Eva

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ei is [ˈe̞i̯] while Eva is [ˈeβ̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14107, 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]. Eva is at rank #5,002, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈeβ̞a].

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 14107, this pair ranks #285,369 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ei vs Eva

Shared letters: e. Private to "ei": i. Private to "Eva": av.

"ei" · 2 letters · shape VV  ·  "Eva" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ei" for "Eva" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ei" is a verb and "Eva" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ei" or "Eva"?
"Eva" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,002 in our Spanish list, against #9,105 for "ei". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "ei" and "Eva" 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 "Eva" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #285,369 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ei" and "Eva" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ei vs EPL". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #285,369 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