sezvssizeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#49,041
“sez” frequency rank
#778
“size” frequency rank
49819
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sez size
Definition Eye dialect spelling of says. The dimensions or magnitude of a thing; how big something is.

Where the eye mixes sez and size

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

3 ch
sez
4 ch
size

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sez is /sɛz/ while size is /saɪz/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49819, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sez is recorded at frequency rank #49,041, classified as averb, pronounced /sɛz/. size is at rank #778, tagged as anoun, pronounced /saɪz/.

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 49819, this pair ranks #179,966 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sez vs size

Shared letters: esz. Private to "sez": -. Private to "size": i.

"sez" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "size" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sizeisze · siez · sizze · ssize · szie

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sez" and "size" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sez" is a verb and "size" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sez" or "size"?
"size" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #778 in our English list, against #49,041 for "sez". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list