sekken to senzai wa onaji you ni mieru keredo, onaji de wa nai.

と connects nouns and means and.

So:

• 石けん と 洗剤 = soap and detergent

In this sentence, it simply links the two things being talked about.

The は marks the topic of the sentence.

Here, the topic is the whole pair:

• 石けん と 洗剤 は = as for soap and detergent / soap and detergent

Japanese often puts は after the final item in a list like this, rather than after each noun.

So the structure is:

• A と B は ... = A and B ...

同じ means same, and ように means something like in the manner of or as if.

Together, 同じように means:

• in the same way
• similarly
• in this sentence, more naturally: the same way or alike

So:

• 同じように見える = look the same / appear similar

Even though 同じ literally means same, here the phrase does not mean they truly are the same. It means they seem the same.

見る means to see / to look at something. 見える means to be visible, to look, or to appear.

In this sentence, the idea is not someone sees them, but rather:

• they appear the same
• they look alike

So 見える is the natural verb here.

Compare:

• 石けんを見る = to look at soap
• 石けんが見える = soap is visible / can be seen
• 同じように見える = looks the same

Here it means looks like or appears.

見える can sometimes mean can be seen, but in a phrase like:

• 同じように見える

it means:

• appear similar
• look the same

So the sentence is talking about appearance, not visibility.

けれど means but, although, or though.

It connects two contrasting ideas:

• they look the same
• but they are not the same

So:

• 見えるけれど、同じではない = they look the same, but they are not the same

けれど is a very common way to express contrast. It is a bit softer than a very direct but in English.

Both mean is not the same.

• 同じではない = more neutral, formal, or written
• 同じじゃない = more casual in conversation

So this sentence uses the slightly more careful form.

You can think of:

• ではない as the more standard negative form
• じゃない as the casual contracted version

This is part of how な-adjectives and noun-like words make negatives.

同じ behaves like a na-adjective in grammar.

To make it negative:

• 同じだ = it is the same
• 同じではない = it is not the same

The で comes from the copula structure. You do not translate it by itself here; it is just part of the grammar pattern.

So it is best to learn:

• Noun / na-adjective + ではない

as one pattern meaning is not ...

It acts a lot like a na-adjective, although it is a little special.

For practical learning, it is easiest to treat it like this:

• 同じだ = is the same
• 同じではない = is not the same
• 同じもの = the same thing
• 同じように = in the same way

So yes, it works similarly to a na-adjective in many common patterns.

よう can be written as 様, but in modern Japanese it is very often written in kana, especially in grammar expressions like:

• 〜ように
• このような
• あのように

So 同じように is completely normal.

Writing it in kana often makes the sentence easier to read.

Yes. They are the same word.

• 石けん = kana spelling
• 石鹸 = kanji spelling

In many everyday materials, products, and learning texts, 石けん is often written partly or fully in kana because the kanji are less common and a bit harder.

洗剤 means detergent or cleaning agent.

It is a broad word and can refer to different kinds of cleaning products, depending on context, such as:

• laundry detergent
• dish detergent
• other cleaning agents

So in this sentence, 石けん and 洗剤 are being compared as two similar-looking but different substances.

The sentence breaks down like this:

• 石けん と 洗剤 は
  soap and detergent

• 同じ よう に 見える
  look the same / appear similar

• けれど
  but / although

• 同じ で は ない
  are not the same

So the full structure is:

• A と B は X ように見えるけれど、X ではない。

In natural English:

• Soap and detergent look the same, but they are not the same.

No, normal Japanese is usually written without spaces.

This sentence would normally appear as:

• 石けんと洗剤は同じように見えるけれど、同じではない。

The spaces are often added in teaching materials to help learners see the parts more clearly.

Yes, that is a very good translation.

Because 同じように見える is about appearance, possible natural translations include:

• Soap and detergent look the same, but they are not the same.
• Soap and detergent appear similar, but they are not the same.
• Soap and detergent seem alike, but they are not the same.

All of these capture the meaning well.