Which to use
“sed” is a name and “she” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #31,340
- “sed” frequency rank
- #64
- “she” frequency rank
- 31404
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sed | she |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A noninteractive text editor (originally developed in Unix), intended for making systematic edits in an automatic or batch-oriented way. | The female (typically) person or animal previously mentioned or implied. |
Where the eye mixes sed and she
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses sed with she
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sed is /sɛd/ while she is /ʃiː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31404, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sed is recorded at frequency rank #31,340, classified as aname, pronounced /sɛd/. she is at rank #64, tagged as apron, pronounced /ʃiː/.
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 31404, this pair ranks #346,423 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sed vs she
Shared letters: es. Private to "sed": d. Private to "she": h.
"sed" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "she" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sed" and "she" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "sed" vs "she" - which ranks higher?
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 "sed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "she" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #346,423 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sed" and "she" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sed vs suds". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #346,423 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.