segavsseivaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#31,553
“sega” frequency rank
#33,612
“seiva” frequency rank
65165
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sega seiva
Definition serra (instrumento usado para serrar, cortar) líquido nutritivo que circula nas plantas

Where the eye mixes sega and seiva

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. sega runs 4 letters (CVCV) against seiva's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
sega
5 ch
seiva

Visual trap between sega and seiva

A purely visual mix-up. sega (/ˈsɛ.ɡa/) and seiva (/ˈsɐj.vɐ/) 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 65165, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sega is recorded at frequency rank #31,553, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɛ.ɡa/. seiva is at rank #33,612, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɐj.vɐ/.

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 65165, this pair ranks #5,499 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sega vs seiva

Shared letters: aes. Private to "sega": g. Private to "seiva": iv.

"sega" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "seiva" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sega ← esga · seag · segga · sgea · ssega
  • seiva ← esiva · seiav · seivva · sevia · sieva · sseiva

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sega" for "seiva" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈsɛ.ɡa/ versus /ˈsɐj.vɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "sega" or "seiva" show up more?
"sega" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,553 in our Portuguese list, against #33,612 for "seiva". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sega" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "seiva" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #5,499 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sega" and "seiva" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seiva 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 #5,499 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