secavsserConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#2,805
“seca” frequency rank
#30
“ser” frequency rank
2835
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seca ser
Definition período sem chuva existir, aquilo que supõe-se existir

Where the eye mixes seca and ser

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

4 ch
seca
3 ch
ser

Why the eye confuses seca with ser

A purely visual mix-up. seca (/ˈsɛ.kɐ/) and ser (/ˈseɾ/) 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 2835, 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/. ser is at rank #30, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈseɾ/.

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 2835, this pair ranks #72,424 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of seca vs ser

Shared letters: es. Private to "seca": ac. Private to "ser": r.

"seca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "ser" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • secaesca · scea · seac · secca · sseca

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "seca" and "ser" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈsɛ.kɐ/ versus /ˈseɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "seca" or "ser"?
"ser" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30 in our Portuguese list, against #2,805 for "seca". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "ser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #72,424 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "seca" and "ser" 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 #72,424 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