Which to use
“seed” is a noun and “sez” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,846
- “seed” frequency rank
- #49,041
- “sez” frequency rank
- 52887
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | seed | sez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Any propagative portion of a plant which may be sown, such as true seeds, seed-like fruits, tubers, or bulbs. | Eye dialect spelling of says. |
Where the eye mixes seed and sez
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between seed and sez
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: seed is /siːd/ while sez is /sɛz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52887, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
seed is recorded at frequency rank #3,846, classified as anoun, pronounced /siːd/. sez is at rank #49,041, tagged as averb, pronounced /sɛz/.
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 52887, this pair ranks #153,368 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of seed vs sez
Shared letters: es. Private to "seed": d. Private to "sez": z.
"seed" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "sez" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- seed ← esed · sede · seedd · sseed
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "seed" and "sez" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "seed" vs "sez" - 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 "seed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #153,368 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "seed" and "sez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sez vs Sif". 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 #153,368 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.