Which to use
“seal” and “stay” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,852
- “seal” frequency rank
- #27,786
- “stay” frequency rank
- 65638
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | seal | stay |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sello. | Parada. |
Where the eye mixes seal and stay
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. seal (CVVC) and stay (CCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between seal and stay
A purely visual mix-up. seal (/siːl/) and stay (/steɪ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65638, 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/. stay is at rank #27,786, tagged as anoun, pronounced /steɪ/.
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 65638, this pair ranks #42,059 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of seal vs stay
Shared letters: as. Private to "seal": el. Private to "stay": ty.
"seal" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "stay" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "seal" for "stay" ever safe?
Which is more common, "seal" or "stay"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "seal" and "stay" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "seal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stay" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #42,059 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "seal" and "stay" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seal vs shall". 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 #42,059 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.