Which to use
“seaman” and “season” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,501
- “seaman” frequency rank
- #315
- “season” frequency rank
- 22816
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | seaman | season |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Synonym of sailor, particularly on a maritime vessel. | Each of the four divisions of a year: spring, summer, autumn (fall) and winter |
Where the eye mixes seaman and season
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. seaman and season follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses seaman with season
A purely visual mix-up. seaman (/ˈsiːmən/) and season ([ˈsiː.zn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22816, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
seaman is recorded at frequency rank #22,501, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsiːmən/. season is at rank #315, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈsiː.zn̩].
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 22816, this pair ranks #413,809 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of seaman vs season
Shared letters: aens. Private to "seaman": m. Private to "season": o.
"seaman" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "season" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "seaman" for "season" ever safe?
Which is more common, "seaman" or "season"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "seaman" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "season" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #413,809 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "seaman" and "season" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sealant vs seaman". 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 #413,809 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.