seevssegueWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“see” and “segue” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#85
“see” frequency rank
#49,626
“segue” frequency rank
49711
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature see segue
Definition To perceive or detect someone or something with the eyes, or as if by sight. To move smoothly from one state or subject to another.

Where the eye mixes see and segue

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
see
5 ch
segue

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. see (/ˈsiː/) and segue (/ˈsɛɡweɪ/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49711, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

see is recorded at frequency rank #85, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈsiː/. segue is at rank #49,626, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈsɛɡweɪ/.

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 49711, this pair ranks #181,080 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of see vs segue

Shared letters: es. Private to "see": -. Private to "segue": gu.

"see" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "segue" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • segueesgue · segeu · seggue · seuge · sgeue · ssegue

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "see" and "segue" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈsiː/ versus /ˈsɛɡweɪ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "see" or "segue"?
"see" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #85 in our English list, against #49,626 for "segue". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list