Which to use
“sewn” and “sez” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,095
- “sewn” frequency rank
- #49,041
- “sez” frequency rank
- 72136
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sewn | sez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | past participle of sew | Eye dialect spelling of says. |
Where the eye mixes sewn and sez
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. sewn runs 4 letters (CVCC) against sez's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between sewn and sez
A purely visual mix-up. sewn (/səʊn/) and sez (/sɛz/) 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 72136, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sewn is recorded at frequency rank #23,095, classified as averb, pronounced /səʊn/. 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 72136, this pair ranks #44,082 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sewn vs sez
Shared letters: es. Private to "sewn": nw. Private to "sez": z.
"sewn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "sez" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- sewn ← eswn · senw · sewnn · sewwn · ssewn · swen
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sewn" for "sez" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "sewn" or "sez" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sewn" 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 #44,082 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sewn" 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 #44,082 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.