English homophones

segue/Segway

"segue" is a verb; "Segway" is a noun - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.

Data vintage

Grammar picks the spelling

Same sound, different grammar: "segue" arrives as a verb, while "Segway" is a noun. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

  • Shared stem "seg" then splits - "segue" (5 letters) vs "Segway" (6).

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across segue, Segway: egs. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

  • segue

    5 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVCVV

    Inventory egsu · private u

  • Segway

    6 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVCCVV

    Inventory aegswy · private awy

Pick the spelling from the meaning

  • Write "segue" when you mean: To move smoothly from one state or subject to another.
  • Write "Segway" when you mean: A motorised vehicle for one person, ridden while standing, and having two wheels on one axle that balances itself using gyroscopes and ti…

Known mistypes of these spellings

Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.

  • segueesgue · segeu · seggue · seuge · sgeue · ssegue
  • Segwayesgway · segawy · seggway · segwayy · segwway · segwya

Each spelling

segue

verb · /ˈsɛɡweɪ/ · #49,626 frequency

To move smoothly from one state or subject to another.

Segway

noun · /ˈsɛɡweɪ/ · #46,766 frequency

A motorised vehicle for one person, ridden while standing, and having two wheels on one axle that balances itself using gyroscopes and tilt sensors.

Nearby English homophone groups

What to do next

You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (segue, Segway). Here's where to go from here.

  • "Segway" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #46,766 in English). Full entry
  • Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
  • Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: sticks · Styx. Nearby cluster
  • Grammar often disambiguates this cluster, match the meaning to the part of speech before picking a spelling. Pick by meaning

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list