elaboradovselaboranTell them apart

Which to use

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

#7,014
“elaborado” frequency rank
#23,766
“elaboran” frequency rank
30780
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature elaborado elaboran
Definition Participio de elaborar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de elaborar.

Where the eye mixes elaborado and elaboran

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. elaborado runs 9 letters (VCVCVCVCV) against elaboran's 8 (VCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
elaborado
8 ch
elaboran

Visual trap between elaborado and elaboran

A purely visual mix-up. elaborado ([elaβ̞oˈɾað̞o]) and elaboran ([elaˈβ̞oɾãn]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30780, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

elaborado is recorded at frequency rank #7,014, classified as averb, pronounced [elaβ̞oˈɾað̞o]. elaboran is at rank #23,766, tagged as averb, pronounced [elaˈβ̞oɾãn].

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 30780, this pair ranks #210,334 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of elaborado vs elaboran

Shared letters: abelor. Private to "elaborado": d. Private to "elaboran": n.

"elaborado" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVCVCV  ·  "elaboran" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • elaborado ← ealborado · elabborado · elaboardo · elaboraddo · elaboraod · elabordao · elaborrado · elabroado
  • elaboran ← ealboran · elabboran · elaboarn · elaborann · elaborna · elaborran · elabroan · elaobran

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "elaborado" and "elaboran" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([elaβ̞oˈɾað̞o] versus [elaˈβ̞oɾãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "elaborado" or "elaboran" show up more?
"elaborado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,014 in our Spanish list, against #23,766 for "elaboran". 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 "elaborado" and "elaboran" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "elaborado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "elaboran" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #210,334 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "elaborado" and "elaboran" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "elaboran vs elaboraron". 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 #210,334 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