sensevsseteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: sense is a noun, sete is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sense” is a noun and “sete” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,155
“sense” frequency rank
#858
“sete” frequency rank
23013
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sense sete
Definition sentido cardinalidade de um conjunto que contenha sete elementos distintos; número equivalente a seis mais um, representado pelo símbolo 7 em algarismos arábicos ou VII/vii em algarismos romanos

Where the eye mixes sense and sete

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
sense
4 ch
sete

Look-alike desk: sense vs sete

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sense is /sɛns/ while sete is /ˈsɛ.tʃi/, /ˈsɛ.ti/. 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 (noun vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23013, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sense is recorded at frequency rank #22,155, classified as anoun, pronounced /sɛns/. sete is at rank #858, tagged as anum, pronounced /ˈsɛ.tʃi/, /ˈsɛ.ti/.

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 23013, this pair ranks #46,897 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sense vs sete

Shared letters: es. Private to "sense": n. Private to "sete": t.

"sense" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "sete" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • senseesnse · senes · sennse · sensse · sesne · snese · ssense
  • seteseet · sette · ssete · stee

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sense" for "sete" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sense" is a noun and "sete" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sense" vs "sete" - which ranks higher?
"sete" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #858 in our Portuguese list, against #22,155 for "sense". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "sense" and "sete" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sense" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sete" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #46,897 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sense" and "sete" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "senda vs sense". 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 #46,897 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