elegirvserigirTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,479
“elegir” frequency rank
#30,458
“erigir” frequency rank
31937
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature elegir erigir
Definition Preferir una cosa o persona a otra para un fin. Constituir, levantar un edificio; también fundar.

Where the eye mixes elegir and erigir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. elegir and erigir follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
elegir
6 ch
erigir

Visual trap between elegir and erigir

A purely visual mix-up. elegir ([eleˈxiɾ]) and erigir ([eɾiˈxiɾ]) 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 31937, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

elegir is recorded at frequency rank #1,479, classified as averb, pronounced [eleˈxiɾ]. erigir is at rank #30,458, tagged as averb, pronounced [eɾiˈxiɾ].

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 31937, this pair ranks #204,553 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of elegir vs erigir

Shared letters: egir. Private to "elegir": l. Private to "erigir": -.

"elegir" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "erigir" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • elegir ← eelgir · eleggir · elegirr · elegri · eleigr · elgeir · ellegir · leegir
  • erigir ← eirgir · ergiir · eriggir · erigirr · erigri · eriigr · errigir · reigir

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "elegir" for "erigir" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([eleˈxiɾ] versus [eɾiˈxiɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "elegir" or "erigir" show up more?
"elegir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,479 in our Spanish list, against #30,458 for "erigir". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "elegir" and "erigir" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "elegir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erigir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #204,553 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "elegir" and "erigir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erigida vs erigir". 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 #204,553 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