Which to use
“seat” is a noun and “sec” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,459
- “seat” frequency rank
- #19,268
- “sec” frequency rank
- 53727
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | seat | sec |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | cadeira (lugar ocupado por membro de uma corporação) | seco |
Where the eye mixes seat and sec
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between seat and sec
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: seat is /siːt/ while sec is \sɛk\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53727, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
seat is recorded at frequency rank #34,459, classified as anoun, pronounced /siːt/. sec is at rank #19,268, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɛk\.
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 53727, this pair ranks #11,823 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of seat vs sec
Shared letters: es. Private to "seat": at. Private to "sec": c.
"seat" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "sec" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- seat ← esat · saet · seatt · sseat
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "seat" and "sec" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "seat" or "sec" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "seat" and "sec" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "seat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sec" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #11,823 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "seat" and "sec" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seat vs soap". 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 #11,823 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.