seleccionavsseleccionarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#20,512
“selecciona” frequency rank
#10,219
“seleccionar” frequency rank
30731
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature selecciona seleccionar
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de seleccionar. Elegir, escoger, especialmente mediante una selección o votación.

Where the eye mixes selecciona and seleccionar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. selecciona runs 10 letters (CVCVCCVVCV) against seleccionar's 11 (CVCVCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
selecciona
11 ch
seleccionar

Look-alike desk: selecciona vs seleccionar

A purely visual mix-up. selecciona ([selekˈsjona]) and seleccionar ([seleksjoˈnaɾ]) 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 extra letter(s) - “selecciona” sits inside “seleccionar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30731, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

selecciona is recorded at frequency rank #20,512, classified as averb, pronounced [selekˈsjona]. seleccionar is at rank #10,219, tagged as averb, pronounced [seleksjoˈnaɾ].

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 30731, this pair ranks #210,567 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of selecciona vs seleccionar

Shared letters: aceilnos. Private to "selecciona": -. Private to "seleccionar": r.

"selecciona" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVVCV  ·  "seleccionar" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • selecciona ← celecciona · eslecciona · seelcciona · selceciona · seleccinoa · seleccioan · seleccionna · seleccoina
  • seleccionar ← celeccionar · esleccionar · seelccionar · selcecionar · seleccinoar · seleccioanr · seleccionarr · seleccionnar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "selecciona" and "seleccionar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([selekˈsjona] versus [seleksjoˈnaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "selecciona" or "seleccionar"?
"seleccionar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,219 in our Spanish list, against #20,512 for "selecciona". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "selecciona" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "seleccionar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #210,567 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "selecciona" and "seleccionar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "selecciona vs seleccionan". 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 #210,567 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