sea

/siː/

//siː// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"sea" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“sea” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #933) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#933
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A large body of salt water.

Corpus desk

Index EN-sea · sea · English

sea · rank #933 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #933
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH rules

Nearest frequency peer: rules (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “sea”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “sea” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

sea vs so
33% similar
sea vs SI
0% similar
sea vs SS
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for sea
PropertyValue
Headwordsea
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/siː/
Letters3
Frequency rank#933
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “sea” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). sea lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for sea is neighbouring look-alikes ("so", "SI", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /siː/. Frequency #933 among 6,566 “S” headwords. 11 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

No generated misspelling entries exist for sea in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "so", "SI", "SS", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English see, from Old English sǣ, from Proto-West Germanic *saiwi (“body of water”), from Proto-Germanic *saiwiz, itself either: * Derived from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂ey-wo- (“to be fierce, afflict”). Related to Latin saevus (“wild, f… The correct English form is sea, spelled S-E-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    A large body of salt water.
  2. 2
    A large body of salt water.
  3. 3
    A large body of salt water.
  4. 4
    A lake, especially if large or if salty or brackish.
  5. 5
    A single wave; billow.
  6. 6
    The swell of the sea, especially when high or rough.
  7. 7
    Living or used in or on the sea; of, near, or like the sea.
  8. 8
    Anything resembling the vastness or turbulence of the sea in mass, size or quantity.
  9. 9
    A constant flux of gluons splitting into quarks, which annihilate to produce further gluons.
  10. 10
    A large, dark plain of rock; a mare.
  11. 11
    A very large lake of liquid hydrocarbon.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how sea appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. God moves in a myſterious way, / His wonders to perform; / He plants his footſteps in the ſea, / And rides upon the ſtorm.
  2. These ſhal ye eat, of all that are in the waters: whatſoeuer hath finnes and ſcales in the waters, in the ſeas, and in the riuers, them ſhall ye eate.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English see, from Old English sǣ, from Proto-West Germanic *saiwi (“body of water”), from Proto-Germanic *saiwiz, itself either: * Derived from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂ey-wo- (“to be fierce, afflict”). Related to Latin saevus (“wild, fierce”), Tocharian B saiwe (“itch”), and Latvian sievs, sīvs (“sharp, biting”). More at sore. * Derived from Proto-Germanic *sīhwaną (“to percolate, filter”), from Proto-Indo-European *seykʷ-. Cognates Cognate with Yola zea, zee (“sea”), North Frisian See, sia, siie (“sea; lake”), Saterland Frisian See, Säi (“sea”), West Frisian see (“sea”), Cimbrian, Mòcheno sea (“lake”), Dutch zee (“sea”), German, German Low German See (“sea”), Limburgish Sië, zieë (“sea, ocean; lake”), Luxembourgish Séi (“lake”), West Flemish zji (“sea; seaside”), Danish sø (“sea; lake”), Faroese sjógvur (“sea; big wave”), Icelandic sjár, sjór, sær (“sea”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk sjø (“sea, ocean; lake”), Swedish sjö (“sea; lake; big wave”), Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌹𐍅𐍃 (saiws, “lake, sea; marshland”).

This word in other languages

mar(Español)mer(Français)Meer(Deutsch)mar(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "sea"?
"sea" is spelled S-E-A. The IPA pronunciation is /siː/.
What does "sea" mean?
As a noun, "sea" means: A large body of salt water.
What words are commonly confused with "sea"?
"sea" is commonly confused with "so", "SI", "SS". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "sea"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sea" is /siː/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "sea"?
Inherited from Middle English see, from Old English sǣ, from Proto-West Germanic *saiwi (“body of water”), from Proto-Germanic *saiwiz, itself either: * Derived from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂ey-wo- (“to be fierce, afflict”). Related to Latin saevus... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sea", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

sir#934lol#948ten#959box#962

What to do next

You've looked up "sea". Here's where to go from here.

  • "sea" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "so". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #933 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more English words in the "S" letter cohort. S–Z browse
  • PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list