Which to use
“sans” is a preposition and “sate” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,416
- “sans” frequency rank
- #48,469
- “sate” frequency rank
- 61885
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sans | sate |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Without; lacking, especially with regard to something expected or with precedent | To satisfy the appetite or desire of; to fill up. |
Where the eye mixes sans and sate
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: sans vs sate
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sans is /sænz/ while sate is /seɪt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61885, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sans is recorded at frequency rank #13,416, classified as aprep, pronounced /sænz/. sate is at rank #48,469, tagged as averb, pronounced /seɪt/.
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 61885, this pair ranks #91,601 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sans vs sate
Shared letters: as. Private to "sans": n. Private to "sate": et.
"sans" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "sate" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sans" for "sate" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "sans" or "sate" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sans" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #91,601 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sans" and "sate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "saki vs sate". 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 #91,601 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.