seize
/siːz/
"seize" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“seize” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #9,669 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #9,669
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To deliberately take hold of; to grab or capture.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | seize |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /siːz/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #9,669 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “seize” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for seize is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /siːz/. Corpus data places it at rank #9,669 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 13 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for seize, with forms such as "esize", "seiez", and "seizze". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "sie", "sez", "side", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Earlier seise, from Middle English seisen, sesen, saisen, from Old French seisir (“to take possession of; invest (person, court)”), from Early Medieval Latin sacīre (“to lay claim to, appropriate”) (8th century) in the phrase ad propriam sacire, from Old Lo… The correct English form is seize, spelled S-E-I-Z-E.
Definition
- 1To deliberately take hold of; to grab or capture.
- 2To take advantage of (an opportunity or circumstance).
- 3To take possession of (by force, law etc.).
- 4To have a sudden and powerful effect upon.
- 5Alternative spelling of seise (“to vest ownership of an estate in land”).
- 6To bind, lash or make fast, with several turns of small rope, cord, or small line.
- 7To fasten, fix.
- 8To lay hold in seizure, by hands or claws (+ on or upon).
- 9To have a seizure.
- 10To bind or lock in position immovably; see also seize up.
- 11To submit for consideration to a deliberative body.
- 12(with of) To cause (an action or matter) to be or remain before (a certain judge or court).
- 13Of chocolate: to change suddenly from a fluid to an undesirably hard and gritty texture.
Etymology
Earlier seise, from Middle English seisen, sesen, saisen, from Old French seisir (“to take possession of; invest (person, court)”), from Early Medieval Latin sacīre (“to lay claim to, appropriate”) (8th century) in the phrase ad propriam sacire, from Old Low Frankish *sakjan (“to sue, bring legal action”), from Proto-Germanic *sakjaną, *sakōną (compare Old English sacian (“to strive, brawl”)), from Proto-Germanic *sakaną (compare Old Saxon sakan (“to accuse”), Old High German sahhan (“to bicker, quarrel, rebuke”), Old English sacan (“to quarrel, claim by law, accuse”). Cognate to sake and Latin sāgiō (“to perceive acutely”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: esize,seiez,seizze,sezie,sieze,sseize
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of seize - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "seize"?
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Using “seize”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-E-I-Z-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /siːz/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “sie” - see the side-by-side comparison. seize vs sie
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.