Sac or sack?
sac is a noun meaning “A bag or pouch inside a plant or animal that typically contains a fluid”; sack is a noun meaning “A bag; especially a large bag of strong, coarse material for storage and…”. They sound the same (/sæk/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) sack is about 1.7 times as common as sac.
What is the difference between sac and sack?
| sac | sack | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | noun, verb |
| Meaning | A bag or pouch inside a plant or animal that typically contains a fluid informalTo sacrifice informalA sacrifice | A bag; especially a large bag of strong, coarse material for storage and handling of various commodities, such as potatoes, coal, coffee; or, a bag with… The amount a sack holds; also, an archaic or historical measure of varying capacity, depending on commodity type and according to local usage; an old English… To put in a sack or sacks |
| Example | Kasparov sacked his queen early on in the game to gain a positional advantage against Kramnik | The American sack of salt is 215 pounds; the sack of wheat, two bushels. – |
| Forms | sacs | sacks |
| Pronunciation | /sæk/ | /sæk/ /sak/ /sɛk/ |
| In writing | 4.7 times per million words | 8.1 times per million words |
Sources: sac and sack in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of sac and sack
sac
- 1
A bag or pouch inside a plant or animal that typically contains a fluid
- 2
informalTo sacrifice
Kasparov sacked his queen early on in the game to gain a positional advantage against Kramnik
- 3
informalA sacrifice
Kasparov's queen sac early in the game gained him a positional advantage against Kramnik
- 4
UKThe privilege, formerly enjoyed by the lord of a manor, of holding courts, trying causes, and imposing fines; now used only in the phrase sac and soc or soc and sac
- 5
Acronym of senior aircraftman
- 6
Alternative form of Sauk
- 7
Initialism of saeculum ante Christum (“era before Christ”)
sack
- 1
A bag; especially a large bag of strong, coarse material for storage and handling of various commodities, such as potatoes, coal, coffee; or, a bag with handles used at a supermarket, a grocery sack…
- 2
To put in a sack or sacks
Help me sack the groceries
- 3
datedA variety of light-colored dry wine from Spain or the Canary Islands; also, any strong white wine from southern Europe; sherry
- 4
datedDated form of sac (“pouch in a plant or animal”)
- 5
Alternative spelling of sac (“sacrifice”)
- 6
Alternative spelling of sac (“sacrifice”)
- 7
The amount a sack holds; also, an archaic or historical measure of varying capacity, depending on commodity type and according to local usage; an old English measure of weight, usually of wool, equal…
The American sack of salt is 215 pounds; the sack of wheat, two bushels. –
- 8
To bear or carry in a sack upon the back or the shoulders
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, sac or sack?
sac appears 4.7 times per million words; sack 8.1 times per million words.
sac 4.7 times per million wordssack 8.1 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search sac vs sack?
“sac vs sack” is searched about 390 times a month on Google and 20 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“sack vs sac”, “sac or sack”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.