elevselegíWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ele is a noun, elegí is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ele” is a noun and “elegí” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,351
“ele” frequency rank
#11,764
“elegí” frequency rank
40115
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ele elegí
Definition Nombre de la letra L (duodécima letra del alfabeto). Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de elegir.

Where the eye mixes ele and elegí

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ele runs 3 letters (VCV) against elegí's 5 (VCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
ele
5 ch
elegí

Why the eye confuses ele with elegí

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ele is [ˈele] while elegí is [eleˈxi]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “ele” sits inside “elegí”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40115, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ele is recorded at frequency rank #28,351, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈele]. elegí is at rank #11,764, tagged as averb, pronounced [eleˈxi].

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 40115, this pair ranks #160,818 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ele vs elegí

Shared letters: el. Private to "ele": -. Private to "elegí": gí.

"ele" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "elegí" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ele" and "elegí" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ele" is a noun and "elegí" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "ele" or "elegí" show up more?
"elegí" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,764 in our Spanish list, against #28,351 for "ele". 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 "ele" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "elegí" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #160,818 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ele" and "elegí" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ele vs EPL". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #160,818 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