Which to use
“safe” and “sure” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #914
- “safe” frequency rank
- #202
- “sure” frequency rank
- 1116
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | safe | sure |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Not in danger; out of harm's reach. | Physically secure and certain, non-failing, reliable. |
Where the eye mixes safe and sure
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. safe (/seɪf/) and sure (/ʃɔː(ɹ)/) 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 1116, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
safe is recorded at frequency rank #914, classified as anadj, pronounced /seɪf/. sure is at rank #202, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ʃɔː(ɹ)/.
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 1116, this pair ranks #528,061 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of safe vs sure
Shared letters: es. Private to "safe": af. Private to "sure": ru.
"safe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "sure" · 4 letters · shape CVCV