Which to use
“Sabah” and “Samar” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,575
- “Sabah” frequency rank
- #37,666
- “Samar” frequency rank
- 70241
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Sabah | Samar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A state in eastern Malaysia located at the Northern part of the Borneo island with the main city Kota Kinabalu as its capital. | An island of Eastern Visayas, Visayas, Philippines. |
Where the eye mixes Sabah and Samar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Sabah and Samar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between Sabah and Samar
A purely visual mix-up. Sabah (/ˈsɑːbɑː/) and Samar (/ˈsa.mɐɾ/) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70241, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Sabah is recorded at frequency rank #32,575, classified as aname, pronounced /ˈsɑːbɑː/. Samar is at rank #37,666, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈsa.mɐɾ/.
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 70241, this pair ranks #51,318 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Sabah vs Samar
Shared letters: as. Private to "Sabah": bh. Private to "Samar": mr.
"Sabah" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "Samar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Sabah" for "Samar" ever safe?
Which is more common, "Sabah" or "Samar"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "Sabah" and "Samar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Sabah" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Samar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #51,318 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Sabah" and "Samar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sagar vs Samar". 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 #51,318 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.