seek vs sem, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“seek” is a verb and “sem” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,853
“seek” frequency rank: #69
“sem” frequency rank: 39922
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	seek	sem
Definition	procurar	indicativa de carência ou ausência

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set seek and sem apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

seek

3 ch

sem

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: seek is /siːk/, /sēk/ while sem is /sɐ̃j̃/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39922, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

seek is recorded at frequency rank #39,853, classified as averb, pronounced /siːk/, /sēk/. sem is at rank #69, tagged as aprep, pronounced /sɐ̃j̃/.

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 39922, this pair ranks #26,253 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of seek vs sem

Shared letters: es. Private to "seek": k. Private to "sem": m.

"seek" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "sem" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

seek ← esek · seekk · sek · seke · sseek

Frequency comparison

seek#39,853

sem#69

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "seek" and "sem" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "seek" is a verb and "sem" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "seek" or "sem"?

"sem" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #69 in our Portuguese list, against #39,853 for "seek". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering seek vs sem

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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