# sect vs sem

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### sect
*noun · IPA /sɛkt/ · frequency rank #14,210*
An offshoot of a larger religion or denomination.

### sem
*noun · IPA /sɛm/ · frequency rank #21,060*
Clipping of seminary.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sect-vs-sem