setavsstarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,453
“seta” frequency rank
#3,645
“star” frequency rank
22098
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seta star
Definition flecha estrela

Where the eye mixes seta and star

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

4 ch
seta
4 ch
star

Look-alike desk: seta vs star

A purely visual mix-up. seta (/ˈsɛ.tɐ/) and star (/stɑ:ʳ/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22098, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

seta is recorded at frequency rank #18,453, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɛ.tɐ/. star is at rank #3,645, tagged as anoun, pronounced /stɑ:ʳ/ ouvir^(fonte ?).

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 22098, this pair ranks #48,024 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of seta vs star

Shared letters: ast. Private to "seta": e. Private to "star": r.

"seta" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "star" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • setaesta · setta · sseta · stea
  • starsatr · sstar · starr · stra · sttar · tsar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "seta" and "star" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈsɛ.tɐ/ versus /stɑ:ʳ/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "seta" vs "star" - which ranks higher?
"star" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,645 in our Portuguese list, against #18,453 for "seta". 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 "seta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "star" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #48,024 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "seta" and "star" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "senda vs seta". 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 #48,024 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