samavssanaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“sama” and “sana” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#45,559
“sama” frequency rank
#38,383
“sana” frequency rank
83942
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sama sana
Definition Elefant Wort

Where the eye mixes sama and sana

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. sama and sana follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
sama
4 ch
sana

Look-alike desk: sama vs sana

A purely visual mix-up. sama ([sàmá]) and sana ([ˈsɑnɑ]) 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 a single letter - m in “sama” becomes n in “sana”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83942, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sama is recorded at frequency rank #45,559, classified as anoun, pronounced [sàmá]. sana is at rank #38,383, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈsɑnɑ].

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 83942, this pair ranks #131,657 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sama vs sana

Shared letters: as. Private to "sama": m. Private to "sana": n.

"sama" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "sana" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sama ← asma · saam · samma · smaa · ssama
  • sana ← asna · saan · sanna · snaa · ssana

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sama" and "sana" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([sàmá] versus [ˈsɑnɑ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sama" or "sana"?
"sana" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,383 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.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sama" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sana" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #131,657 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sama" and "sana" 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 #131,657 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