secovsseiWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: seco is a adjective, sei is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“seco” is an adjective and “sei” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,198
“seco” frequency rank
#48,072
“sei” frequency rank
52270
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seco sei
Definition Que no tiene agua, que no tiene humedad. Seis.

Where the eye mixes seco and sei

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
seco
3 ch
sei

Visual trap between seco and sei

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: seco is [ˈseko] while sei is /s̺ej/. 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 (adjective vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52270, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

seco is recorded at frequency rank #4,198, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈseko]. sei is at rank #48,072, tagged as anum, pronounced /s̺ej/.

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 52270, this pair ranks #93,536 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of seco vs sei

Shared letters: es. Private to "seco": co. Private to "sei": i.

"seco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "sei" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • secoceco · esco · sceo · secco · seoc · sseco

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "seco" and "sei" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "seco" is an adjective and "sei" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "seco" vs "sei" - which ranks higher?
"seco" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,198 in our Spanish list, against #48,072 for "sei". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "seco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sei" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #93,536 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "seco" and "sei" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sei vs stem". 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 #93,536 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