seavsskyConfusable pair

Which to use

“sea” and “sky” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,925
“sea” frequency rank
#7,084
“sky” frequency rank
17009
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sea sky
Definition mar. céu

Letter map: sea vs sky

Shared letters muted; letters that set sea and sky apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
sea
3 ch
sky

Spelling & dictionary notes on sea vs sky

sea and sky are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17009, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sea is recorded at frequency rank #9,925, classified as anoun, pronounced ]. sky is at rank #7,084, tagged as anoun, pronounced /skaɪ/.

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 17009, this pair ranks #54,354 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sea vs sky

Shared letters: s. Private to "sea": ae. Private to "sky": ky.

"sea" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "sky" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sea" for "sky" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "sea" vs "sky" - which ranks higher?
"sky" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,084 in our Portuguese list, against #9,925 for "sea". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "sea" and "sky". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sea" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sky" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #54,354 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sea" and "sky" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sea vs soap". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #54,354 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list