Which to use
“sei” is a verb and “seize” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,154
- “sei” frequency rank
- #6,659
- “seize” frequency rank
- 42813
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sei | seize |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de sein. | Le nombre cardinal situé après quinze en y ajoutant un, et avant dix-sept, représenté 16 en chiffres arabes, et XVI en chiffres romains. |
Where the eye mixes sei and seize
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: sei vs seize
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sei is \zaɪ̯\ while seize is \sɛz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “sei” sits inside “seize”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42813, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sei is recorded at frequency rank #36,154, classified as averb, pronounced \zaɪ̯\. 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 42813, this pair ranks #222,760 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sei vs seize
Shared letters: eis. Private to "sei": -. Private to "seize": z.
"sei" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "seize" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- seize ← esize · seiez · seizze · sezie · sieze · sseize
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sei" and "seize" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "sei" or "seize" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sei" 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 #222,760 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sei" and "seize" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sei vs suu". 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 #222,760 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.