elaboravselaboróTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,357
“elabora” frequency rank
#19,096
“elaboró” frequency rank
34453
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature elabora elaboró
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de elaborar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de elaborar.

Where the eye mixes elabora and elaboró

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. elabora and elaboró follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
elabora
7 ch
elaboró

Visual trap between elabora and elaboró

A purely visual mix-up. elabora ([elaˈβ̞oɾa]) and elaboró ([elaβ̞oˈɾo]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - a in “elabora” becomes ó in “elaboró”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34453, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

elabora is recorded at frequency rank #15,357, classified as averb, pronounced [elaˈβ̞oɾa]. elaboró is at rank #19,096, tagged as averb, pronounced [elaβ̞oˈɾo].

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 34453, this pair ranks #191,375 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of elabora vs elaboró

Shared letters: abelor. Private to "elabora": -. Private to "elaboró": ó.

"elabora" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "elaboró" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • elabora ← ealbora · elabbora · elaboar · elabroa · elaobra · elavora · elbaora · ellabora

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "elabora" and "elaboró" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([elaˈβ̞oɾa] versus [elaβ̞oˈɾo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "elabora" or "elaboró" show up more?
"elabora" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,357 in our Spanish list, against #19,096 for "elaboró". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "elabora" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "elaboró" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #191,375 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "elabora" and "elaboró" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "elabora vs evapora". 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 #191,375 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