Which to use
“elle” is a noun and “ello” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,767
- “elle” frequency rank
- #400
- “ello” frequency rank
- 24167
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | elle | ello |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nombre del dígrafo ll. | Nominativo del pronombre personal de tercera persona en género neutro. Con preposición, empléase también en el caso oblicuo (o preposicional). |
Where the eye mixes elle and ello
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses elle with ello
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: elle is [ˈeʝe] while ello is [ˈeʝo]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “elle” becomes o in “ello”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24167, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
elle is recorded at frequency rank #23,767, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈeʝe]. ello is at rank #400, tagged as apron, pronounced [ˈeʝo].
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 24167, this pair ranks #242,423 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of elle vs ello
Shared letters: el. Private to "elle": -. Private to "ello": o.
"elle" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "ello" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "elle" for "ello" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "elle" or "ello" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "elle" and "ello" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "elle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ello" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #242,423 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "elle" and "ello" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "elle vs EPL". 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 #242,423 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.