seasvssecanWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“seas” and “secan” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,050
“seas” frequency rank
#39,455
“secan” frequency rank
41505
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seas secan
Definition Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de subjuntivo de ser. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de secar.

Where the eye mixes seas and secan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. seas runs 4 letters (CVVC) against secan's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
seas
5 ch
secan

Visual trap between seas and secan

A purely visual mix-up. seas ([ˈseas]) and secan ([ˈsekãn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41505, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

seas is recorded at frequency rank #2,050, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈseas]. secan is at rank #39,455, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈsekãn].

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 41505, this pair ranks #153,271 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of seas vs secan

Shared letters: aes. Private to "seas": -. Private to "secan": cn.

"seas" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "secan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • seasceas · saes · seass · sesa · sseas
  • secancecan · escan · scean · seacn · secann · seccan · secna · ssecan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "seas" for "secan" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈseas] versus [ˈsekãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "seas" vs "secan" - which ranks higher?
"seas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,050 in our Spanish list, against #39,455 for "secan". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "seas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "secan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #153,271 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "seas" and "secan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "secan vs seta". 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 #153,271 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list