sendvssetsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: send is a verb, sets is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“send” is a verb and “sets” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#817
“send” frequency rank
#2,088
“sets” frequency rank
2905
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature send sets
Definition To make something (such as an object or message) go from one place to another (or to someone). plural of set

Where the eye mixes send and sets

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
send
4 ch
sets

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: send is /sɛnd/ while sets is /sɛts/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2905, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

send is recorded at frequency rank #817, classified as averb, pronounced /sɛnd/. sets is at rank #2,088, tagged as anoun, pronounced /sɛts/.

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 2905, this pair ranks #523,683 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of send vs sets

Shared letters: es. Private to "send": dn. Private to "sets": t.

"send" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "sets" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sendesnd · sedn · sendd · sennd · sned · ssend
  • setsests · sest · setss · setts · ssets · stes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "send" and "sets" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "send" is a verb and "sets" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "send" or "sets"?
"send" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #817 in our English list, against #2,088 for "sets". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list