élitesvsevitenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#11,891
“élites” frequency rank
#24,863
“eviten” frequency rank
36754
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature élites eviten
Definition Forma del plural de élite. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de evitar.

Where the eye mixes élites and eviten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. élites and eviten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
élites
6 ch
eviten

Look-alike desk: élites vs eviten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: élites is [ˈelit̪es] while eviten is [eˈβ̞it̪ẽn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36754, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

élites is recorded at frequency rank #11,891, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈelit̪es]. eviten is at rank #24,863, tagged as averb, pronounced [eˈβ̞it̪ẽn].

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 36754, this pair ranks #178,967 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of élites vs eviten

Shared letters: eit. Private to "élites": lsé. Private to "eviten": nv.

"élites" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "eviten" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eviten ← ebiten · eivten · evietn · evitenn · evitne · evitten · evtien · evviten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "élites" for "eviten" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "élites" is a noun and "eviten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "élites" or "eviten"?
"élites" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,891 in our Spanish list, against #24,863 for "eviten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "élites" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "eviten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #178,967 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "élites" and "eviten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "evitas vs eviten". 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 #178,967 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