Which to use
“seek” and “seems” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,462
- “seek” frequency rank
- #578
- “seems” frequency rank
- 3040
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | seek | seems |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To try to find; to look for; to search for. | third-person singular simple present indicative of seem |
Where the eye mixes seek and seems
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. seek (/siːk/) and seems (/siːmz/) 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 3040, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
seek is recorded at frequency rank #2,462, classified as averb, pronounced /siːk/. seems is at rank #578, tagged as averb, pronounced /siːmz/.
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 3040, this pair ranks #523,298 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of seek vs seems
Shared letters: es. Private to "seek": k. Private to "seems": m.
"seek" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "seems" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC