Which to use
“seal” is a verb and “Sesam” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #32,260
- “seal” frequency rank
- #46,990
- “Sesam” frequency rank
- 79250
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | seal | Sesam |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | dichten, abdichten | Pflanze der Art Sesamum indicum, aus der Familie der Sesamgewächse |
Where the eye mixes seal and Sesam
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. seal runs 4 letters (CVVC) against Sesam's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses seal with Sesam
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: seal is [siːl] while Sesam is [ˈzeːzam]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79250, 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]. Sesam is at rank #46,990, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈzeːzam].
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 79250, this pair ranks #220,514 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of seal vs Sesam
Shared letters: aes. Private to "seal": l. Private to "Sesam": m.
"seal" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "Sesam" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "seal" for "Sesam" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "seal" or "Sesam" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "seal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Sesam" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #220,514 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "seal" and "Sesam" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sega vs Sesam". 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 #220,514 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.