Which to use
“seas” and “stays” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,972
- “seas” frequency rank
- #4,635
- “stays” frequency rank
- 12607
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | seas | stays |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of sea | plural of stay |
Where the eye mixes seas and stays
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between seas and stays
A purely visual mix-up. seas (/siːz/) and stays (/steɪz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12607, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
seas is recorded at frequency rank #7,972, classified as anoun, pronounced /siːz/. stays is at rank #4,635, tagged as anoun, pronounced /steɪz/.
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 12607, this pair ranks #480,593 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of seas vs stays
Shared letters: as. Private to "seas": e. Private to "stays": ty.
"seas" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "stays" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "seas" and "stays" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "seas" or "stays" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "seas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stays" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #480,593 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "seas" and "stays" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seas vs suds". 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 #480,593 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.