Which to use
“seal” is a verb and “seals” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #32,260
- “seal” frequency rank
- #42,123
- “seals” frequency rank
- 74383
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | seal | seals |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | dichten, abdichten | Plural des Substantivs seal |
Letter map: seal vs seals
Shared letters muted; letters that set seal and seals apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. seal runs 4 letters (CVVC) against seals's 5 (CVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: seal vs seals
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: seal is averb and sealsanoun. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “seal” sits inside “seals”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74383, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
seal is recorded at frequency rank #32,260, classified as averb, pronounced [siːl]. seals is at rank #42,123, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].
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 74383, this pair ranks #334,943 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of seal vs seals
Shared letters: aels. Private to "seal": -. Private to "seals": -.
"seal" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "seals" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "seal" for "seals" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "seal" or "seals" show up more?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "seal" and "seals".
- Full dictionary entry for "seal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "seals" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #334,943 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "seal" and "seals" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs seals". 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 #334,943 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.