Which to use
“seca” is a noun and “seco” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,805
- “seca” frequency rank
- #4,763
- “seco” frequency rank
- 7568
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | seca | seco |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | período sem chuva | sem água ou humidade; enxuto; árido |
Where the eye mixes seca and seco
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: seca vs seco
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: seca is /ˈsɛ.kɐ/ while seco is /ˈse.ku/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “seca” becomes o in “seco”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7568, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
seca is recorded at frequency rank #2,805, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɛ.kɐ/. seco is at rank #4,763, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈse.ku/.
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 7568, this pair ranks #66,547 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of seca vs seco
Shared letters: ces. Private to "seca": a. Private to "seco": o.
"seca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "seco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "seca" for "seco" ever safe?
Which is more common, "seca" or "seco"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "seca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "seco" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #66,547 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "seca" and "seco" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seco vs sueño". 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 #66,547 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.