seção vs seco, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“seção” is a noun and “seco” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,496
“seção” frequency rank: #4,763
“seco” frequency rank: 7259
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	seção	seco
Definition	subdivisão de um capítulo, obra, tratado ou estudo	sem água ou humidade; enxuto; árido

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set seção and seco apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

seção

4 ch

seco

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: seção is anoun and secoanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7259, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

seção is recorded at frequency rank #2,496, classified as anoun. 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 7259, this pair ranks #66,918 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of seção vs seco

Shared letters: eos. Private to "seção": ãç. Private to "seco": c.

"seção" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "seco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

seco ← esco · sceo · secco · seoc · sseco

Frequency comparison

seção#2,496

seco#4,763

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "seção" and "seco" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "seção" is a noun and "seco" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "seção" or "seco"?

"seção" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,496 in our Portuguese list, against #4,763 for "seco". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering seção vs seco

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “seção”; for an adjective, it's “seco”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “seção” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable