secavssedeConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#2,805
“seca” frequency rank
#1,132
“sede” frequency rank
3937
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seca sede
Definition período sem chuva local onde funciona uma organização

Where the eye mixes seca and sede

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
seca
4 ch
sede

Visual trap between seca and sede

A purely visual mix-up. seca (/ˈsɛ.kɐ/) and sede (/ˈsɛ.ʤɪ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3937, 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/. sede is at rank #1,132, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɛ.ʤɪ/.

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 3937, this pair ranks #71,129 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of seca vs sede

Shared letters: es. Private to "seca": ac. Private to "sede": d.

"seca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "sede" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • secaesca · scea · seac · secca · sseca
  • sedeesde · sdee · sedde · seed · ssede

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "seca" and "sede" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈsɛ.kɐ/ versus /ˈsɛ.ʤɪ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "seca" or "sede" show up more?
"sede" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,132 in our Portuguese list, against #2,805 for "seca". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "seca" and "sede" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "seca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sede" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #71,129 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "seca" and "sede" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seca vs senda". 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 #71,129 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