sealvssetWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: seal is a verb, set is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“seal” is a verb and “set” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,260
“seal” frequency rank
#3,995
“set” frequency rank
36255
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seal set
Definition dichten, abdichten Kardinalzahl zwischen sechs und acht

Letter map: seal vs set

Shared letters muted; letters that set seal and set apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
seal
3 ch
set

Part-of-speech tell for seal / set

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: seal is averb and setanum. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36255, 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]. set is at rank #3,995, tagged as anum, 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 36255, this pair ranks #1,620,184 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of seal vs set

Shared letters: es. Private to "seal": al. Private to "set": t.

"seal" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "set" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sealesal · seall · sela · sseal

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "seal" for "set" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "seal" is a verb and "set" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "seal" or "set"?
"set" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,995 in our German list, against #32,260 for "seal". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "seal" and "set".

  • Full dictionary entry for "seal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "set" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,620,184 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "seal" and "set" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seal vs seg". 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 #1,620,184 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list