SelinavsSelmaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#33,412
“Selina” frequency rank
#23,987
“Selma” frequency rank
57399
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Selina Selma
Definition A female given name from Latin. A female given name.

Letter map: Selina vs Selma

Shared letters muted; letters that set Selina and Selma apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
Selina
5 ch
Selma

Corpus notes: Selina and Selma

Selina and Selma are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57399, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Selina is recorded at frequency rank #33,412, classified as aname. Selma is at rank #23,987, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈsɛlmə/.

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 57399, this pair ranks #119,546 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Selina vs Selma

Shared letters: aels. Private to "Selina": in. Private to "Selma": m.

"Selina" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "Selma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Selinaeslina · seilna · selian · selinna · sellina · selnia · sleina · sselina
  • Selmaeslma · selam · sellma · selmma · semla · slema · sselma

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Selina" and "Selma" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary English text, does "Selina" or "Selma" show up more?
"Selma" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,987 in our English list, against #33,412 for "Selina". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "Selina" and "Selma". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Selina" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Selma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #119,546 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Selina" and "Selma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sedona vs Selina". 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 #119,546 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list