seedvsstepConfusable pair

Which to use

“seed” and “step” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#41,533
“seed” frequency rank
#17,826
“step” frequency rank
59359
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seed step
Definition Graine, pépin. Accessoire de mise en forme, de fitness, ressemblant à une marche sur laquelle on monte et on descend.

Where the eye mixes seed and step

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

4 ch
seed
4 ch
step

Look-alike desk: seed vs step

A purely visual mix-up. seed (\siːd\) and step (\stɛp\) 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 59359, 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\. step is at rank #17,826, tagged as anoun, pronounced \stɛp\.

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 59359, this pair ranks #103,609 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of seed vs step

Shared letters: es. Private to "seed": d. Private to "step": pt.

"seed" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "step" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • seedesed · sede · seedd · sseed
  • stepsstep · stepp · stpe · sttep · tsep

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "seed" and "step" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\siːd\ versus \stɛp\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "seed" or "step"?
"step" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,826 in our French list, against #41,533 for "seed". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "seed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "step" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #103,609 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "seed" and "step" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seed vs Sepp". 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 #103,609 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list