seedvssoldWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#41,533
“seed” frequency rank
#44,741
“sold” frequency rank
86274
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seed sold
Definition Graine, pépin. Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de solden.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set seed and sold apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
seed
4 ch
sold

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: seed is \siːd\ while sold is \zɔlt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86274, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

seed is recorded at frequency rank #41,533, classified as anoun, pronounced \siːd\. sold is at rank #44,741, tagged as averb, pronounced \zɔlt\.

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 86274, this pair ranks #9,973 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of seed vs sold

Shared letters: ds. Private to "seed": e. Private to "sold": lo.

"seed" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "sold" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • seedesed · sede · seedd · sseed
  • soldosld · slod · sodl · soldd · solld · ssold

Frequency comparison

seed#41,533
sold#44,741

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "seed" and "sold" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "seed" is a noun and "sold" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "seed" or "sold"?
"seed" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,533 in our French list, against #44,741 for "sold". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering seed vs sold

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “seed”; for a verb, it's “sold”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “seed” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list