SahravssamaConfusable pair

Quick tell: Sahra is a name, sama is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Sahra” is a name and “sama” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,839
“Sahra” frequency rank
#45,559
“sama” frequency rank
74398
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sahra sama
Definition weiblicher Vorname Elefant

Where the eye mixes Sahra and sama

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

5 ch
Sahra
4 ch
sama

Visual trap between Sahra and sama

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Sahra is [ˈzaːʁa] while sama is [sàmá]. 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 (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74398, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Sahra is recorded at frequency rank #28,839, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈzaːʁa]. sama is at rank #45,559, tagged as anoun, pronounced [sàmá].

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 74398, this pair ranks #334,568 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Sahra vs sama

Shared letters: as. Private to "Sahra": hr. Private to "sama": m.

"Sahra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "sama" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Sahra ← ashra · sahar · sahhra · sahrra · shara · ssahra
  • sama ← asma · saam · samma · smaa · ssama

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Sahra" for "sama" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Sahra" is a name and "sama" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Sahra" or "sama" show up more?
"Sahra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,839 in our German list, against #45,559 for "sama". 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 "Sahra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sama" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #334,568 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Sahra" and "sama" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sama vs sega". 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 #334,568 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list