diff --git a/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/blocks/svelte-element.js b/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/blocks/svelte-element.js
index 47dfe7707d..6df020d2d7 100644
--- a/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/blocks/svelte-element.js
+++ b/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/blocks/svelte-element.js
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import {
 	set_hydrate_node,
 	set_hydrating
 } from '../hydration.js';
-import { create_text, get_first_child } from '../operations.js';
+import { create_element, create_text, get_first_child } from '../operations.js';
 import { block, teardown } from '../../reactivity/effects.js';
 import { set_should_intro } from '../../render.js';
 import { active_effect } from '../../runtime.js';
@@ -57,7 +57,11 @@ export function element(node, get_tag, is_svg, render_fn, get_namespace, locatio
 
 	block(() => {
 		const next_tag = get_tag() || null;
-		var ns = get_namespace ? get_namespace() : is_svg || next_tag === 'svg' ? NAMESPACE_SVG : null;
+		var ns = get_namespace
+			? get_namespace()
+			: is_svg || next_tag === 'svg'
+				? NAMESPACE_SVG
+				: undefined;
 
 		if (next_tag === null) {
 			branches.ensure(null, null);
@@ -67,11 +71,7 @@ export function element(node, get_tag, is_svg, render_fn, get_namespace, locatio
 
 		branches.ensure(next_tag, (anchor) => {
 			if (next_tag) {
-				element = hydrating
-					? /** @type {Element} */ (element)
-					: ns
-						? document.createElementNS(ns, next_tag)
-						: document.createElement(next_tag);
+				element = hydrating ? /** @type {Element} */ (element) : create_element(next_tag, ns);
 
 				if (DEV && location) {
 					// @ts-expect-error
diff --git a/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/css.js b/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/css.js
index 8e6faa0e32..74bf2d49f9 100644
--- a/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/css.js
+++ b/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/css.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { DEV } from 'esm-env';
 import { register_style } from '../dev/css.js';
 import { effect } from '../reactivity/effects.js';
+import { create_element } from './operations.js';
 
 /**
  * @param {Node} anchor
@@ -18,7 +19,7 @@ export function append_styles(anchor, css) {
 		// Always querying the DOM is roughly the same perf as additionally checking for presence in a map first assuming
 		// that you'll get cache hits half of the time, so we just always query the dom for simplicity and code savings.
 		if (!target.querySelector('#' + css.hash)) {
-			const style = document.createElement('style');
+			const style = create_element('style');
 			style.id = css.hash;
 			style.textContent = css.code;
 
diff --git a/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/elements/custom-element.js b/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/elements/custom-element.js
index 40d3d68ec0..8316fa7656 100644
--- a/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/elements/custom-element.js
+++ b/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/elements/custom-element.js
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { createClassComponent } from '../../../../legacy/legacy-client.js';
 import { effect_root, render_effect } from '../../reactivity/effects.js';
 import { append } from '../template.js';
 import { define_property, get_descriptor, object_keys } from '../../../shared/utils.js';
+import { create_element } from '../operations.js';
 
 /**
  * @typedef {Object} CustomElementPropDefinition
@@ -103,7 +104,7 @@ if (typeof HTMLElement === 'function') {
 					 * @param {Element} anchor
 					 */
 					return (anchor) => {
-						const slot = document.createElement('slot');
+						const slot = create_element('slot');
 						if (name !== 'default') slot.name = name;
 
 						append(anchor, slot);
diff --git a/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/elements/customizable-select.js b/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/elements/customizable-select.js
index 1858565d2a..b9f20f63a8 100644
--- a/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/elements/customizable-select.js
+++ b/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/elements/customizable-select.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { hydrating, reset, set_hydrate_node, set_hydrating } from '../hydration.js';
-import { create_comment } from '../operations.js';
+import { create_comment, create_element } from '../operations.js';
 import { attach } from './attachments.js';
 
 /** @type {boolean | null} */
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ let supported = null;
  */
 function is_supported() {
 	if (supported === null) {
-		var select = document.createElement('select');
+		var select = create_element('select');
 		select.innerHTML = '<option><span>t</span></option>';
 		supported = /** @type {Element} */ (select.firstChild)?.firstChild?.nodeType === 1;
 	}
diff --git a/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/operations.js b/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/operations.js
index 61a48bcbfb..876f039a0e 100644
--- a/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/operations.js
+++ b/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/operations.js
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import { active_effect } from '../runtime.js';
 import { async_mode_flag } from '../../flags/index.js';
 import { TEXT_NODE, EFFECT_RAN } from '#client/constants';
 import { eager_block_effects } from '../reactivity/batch.js';
+import { NAMESPACE_HTML } from '../../../constants.js';
 
 // export these for reference in the compiled code, making global name deduplication unnecessary
 /** @type {Window} */
@@ -231,18 +232,17 @@ export function should_defer_append() {
 }
 
 /**
- *
- * @param {string} tag
+ * @template {keyof HTMLElementTagNameMap | string} T
+ * @param {T} tag
  * @param {string} [namespace]
  * @param {string} [is]
- * @returns
+ * @returns {T extends keyof HTMLElementTagNameMap ? HTMLElementTagNameMap[T] : Element}
  */
 export function create_element(tag, namespace, is) {
 	let options = is ? { is } : undefined;
-	if (namespace) {
-		return document.createElementNS(namespace, tag, options);
-	}
-	return document.createElement(tag, options);
+	return /** @type {T extends keyof HTMLElementTagNameMap ? HTMLElementTagNameMap[T] : Element} */ (
+		document.createElementNS(namespace ?? NAMESPACE_HTML, tag, options)
+	);
 }
 
 export function create_fragment() {
diff --git a/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/reconciler.js b/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/reconciler.js
index 8d3b5c0495..54f2e23c6e 100644
--- a/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/reconciler.js
+++ b/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/reconciler.js
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
+import { create_element } from './operations.js';
+
 /** @param {string} html */
 export function create_fragment_from_html(html) {
-	var elem = document.createElement('template');
+	var elem = create_element('template');
 	elem.innerHTML = html.replaceAll('<!>', '<!---->'); // XHTML compliance
 	return elem.content;
 }
diff --git a/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/template.js b/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/template.js
index 567fbeabf0..9c2f2fe82f 100644
--- a/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/template.js
+++ b/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/template.js
@@ -275,7 +275,7 @@ function run_scripts(node) {
 	const effect = /** @type {Effect & { nodes: EffectNodes }} */ (active_effect);
 
 	for (const script of scripts) {
-		const clone = document.createElement('script');
+		const clone = create_element('script');
 		for (var attribute of script.attributes) {
 			clone.setAttribute(attribute.name, attribute.value);
 		}