Which to use
“says” is a verb and “seize” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,038
- “says” frequency rank
- #6,659
- “seize” frequency rank
- 48697
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | says | seize |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du présent de say. | Le nombre cardinal situé après quinze en y ajoutant un, et avant dix-sept, représenté 16 en chiffres arabes, et XVI en chiffres romains. |
Same sound, different letters: says vs seize
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 1 letter.
Homophone desk: says vs seize
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: says and seize carry the same recorded pronunciation, \sɛz\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48697, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
says is recorded at frequency rank #42,038, classified as averb, pronounced \sɛz\. seize is at rank #6,659, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɛz\.
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 48697, this pair ranks #176,750 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of says vs seize
Shared letters: s. Private to "says": ay. Private to "seize": eiz.
"says" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "seize" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "says" for "seize" ever safe?
Which is more common, "says" or "seize"?
After this comparison
"says" and "seize" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "says" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "seize" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #176,750 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "says" and "seize" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "says vs soya". 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 #176,750 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.