sec vs só, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#19,268
“sec” frequency rank: #50
“só” frequency rank: 19318
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	sec	só
Definition	seco	solitário, sem companhia, sem círculo social

Where the eye mixes sec and só

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch

sec

2 ch

só

Visual trap between sec and só

A purely visual mix-up. sec (\sɛk\) and só (/ˈsɔ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19318, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sec is recorded at frequency rank #19,268, classified as anadj, pronounced \sɛk\. só is at rank #50, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈsɔ/.

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 19318, this pair ranks #51,430 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sec vs só

Shared letters: s. Private to "sec": ce. Private to "só": ó.

"sec" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "só" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sec" for "só" ever safe?

No. They are said differently (\sɛk\ versus /ˈsɔ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

In ordinary Portuguese text, does "sec" or "só" show up more?

"só" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #50 in our Portuguese list, against #19,268 for "sec". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

Full dictionary entry for "sec" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "só" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #51,430 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"sec" and "só" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sau vs sec". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #51,430 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.