eligenvsexigeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,327
“eligen” frequency rank
#3,630
“exige” frequency rank
13957
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eligen exige
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de elegir. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de exigir.

Where the eye mixes eligen and exige

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
eligen
5 ch
exige

Why the eye confuses eligen with exige

A purely visual mix-up. eligen ([eˈlixẽn]) and exige ([ekˈsixe]) 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 13957, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

eligen is recorded at frequency rank #10,327, classified as averb, pronounced [eˈlixẽn]. exige is at rank #3,630, tagged as averb, pronounced [ekˈsixe].

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 13957, this pair ranks #285,924 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of eligen vs exige

Shared letters: egi. Private to "eligen": ln. Private to "exige": x.

"eligen" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "exige" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eligeneilgen · elgien · eliegn · eligenn · eliggen · eligne · elligen · leigen
  • exigeeixge · exgie · exieg · exigge · exxige · xeige

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "eligen" and "exige" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([eˈlixẽn] versus [ekˈsixe]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "eligen" vs "exige" - which ranks higher?
"exige" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,630 in our Spanish list, against #10,327 for "eligen". 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 "eligen" and "exige" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "eligen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "exige" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #285,924 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eligen" and "exige" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exige vs exit". 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 #285,924 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