sealvssepanWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#37,852
“seal” frequency rank
#4,836
“sepan” frequency rank
42688
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seal sepan
Definition Sello. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de saber.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set seal and sepan apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
seal
5 ch
sepan

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: seal is /siːl/ while sepan is [ˈsepãn]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42688, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

seal is recorded at frequency rank #37,852, classified as anoun, pronounced /siːl/. sepan is at rank #4,836, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈsepãn].

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 42688, this pair ranks #146,834 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of seal vs sepan

Shared letters: aes. Private to "seal": l. Private to "sepan": np.

"seal" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "sepan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sealesal · seall · sseal
  • sepancepan · espan · seapn · sepann · sepna · seppan · spean · ssepan

Frequency comparison

seal#37,852
sepan#4,836

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "seal" and "sepan" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "seal" is a noun and "sepan" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "seal" or "sepan"?
"sepan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,836 in our Spanish list, against #37,852 for "seal". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering seal vs sepan

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “seal”; for a verb, it's “sepan”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “seal” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list