elegiblevsexigibleConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#34,080
“elegible” frequency rank
#44,743
“exigible” frequency rank
78823
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature elegible exigible
Definition Que se puede elegir. Susceptible de ser exigido, que puede exigirse.

Where the eye mixes elegible and exigible

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

8 ch
elegible
8 ch
exigible

Why the eye confuses elegible with exigible

A purely visual mix-up. elegible ([eleˈxiβ̞le]) and exigible ([eksiˈxiβ̞le]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78823, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

elegible is recorded at frequency rank #34,080, classified as anadj, pronounced [eleˈxiβ̞le]. exigible is at rank #44,743, tagged as anadj, pronounced [eksiˈxiβ̞le].

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 78823, this pair ranks #13,893 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of elegible vs exigible

Shared letters: begil. Private to "elegible": -. Private to "exigible": x.

"elegible" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCCV  ·  "exigible" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • elegible ← eelgible · elegbile · eleggible · elegibble · elegibel · elegiblle · elegilbe · elegivle
  • exigible ← eixgible · exgiible · exigbile · exiggible · exigibble · exigibel · exigiblle · exigilbe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "elegible" and "exigible" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([eleˈxiβ̞le] versus [eksiˈxiβ̞le]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "elegible" or "exigible" show up more?
"elegible" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,080 in our Spanish list, against #44,743 for "exigible". 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 "elegible" and "exigible" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "elegible" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "exigible" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #13,893 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "elegible" and "exigible" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "elegible vs elegibles". 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 #13,893 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