# sadism vs sexism

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### sadism
*noun · IPA /ˈseɪdɪzəm/ · frequency rank #49,026*
The enjoyment of inflicting pain or humiliation without pity.

### sexism
*noun · IPA /ˈsɛksɪzm̩/ · frequency rank #14,632*
The belief that people of one sex (or gender) are inherently different from those of another sex, and generally that one sex is superior to others.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sadism-vs-sexism