secularvsséculoConfusable pair

Quick tell: secular is a adjective, século is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#12,773
“secular” frequency rank
#1,102
“século” frequency rank
13875
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature secular século
Definition relativo a século período de cem anos que se conta a partir de um ponto cronologicamente determinado

Letter map: secular vs século

Shared letters muted; letters that set secular and século apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

7 ch
secular
6 ch
século

Grammar separator: secular vs século

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: secular is anadjective and séculoanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13875, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

secular is recorded at frequency rank #12,773, classified as anadj. século is at rank #1,102, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɛ.ku.lu/.

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 13875, this pair ranks #58,338 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of secular vs século

Shared letters: clsu. Private to "secular": aer. Private to "século": .

"secular" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "século" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • secularescular · sceular · seccular · secluar · secualr · secularr · secullar · seculra

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "secular" and "século" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "secular" is an adjective and "século" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "secular" vs "século" - which ranks higher?
"século" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,102 in our Portuguese list, against #12,773 for "secular". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

You've compared "secular" and "século". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "secular" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "século" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #58,338 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "secular" and "século" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "secular vs selar". 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 #58,338 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