satevsseaterWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: sate is a verb, seater is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sate” is a verb and “seater” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,469
“sate” frequency rank
#25,567
“seater” frequency rank
74036
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sate seater
Definition To satisfy the appetite or desire of; to fill up. A vehicle or item of furniture that has a specified seating capacity.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sate and seater apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
sate
6 ch
seater

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sate is /seɪt/ while seater is /ˈsitɚ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74036, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sate is recorded at frequency rank #48,469, classified as averb, pronounced /seɪt/. seater is at rank #25,567, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsitɚ/.

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 74036, this pair ranks #37,584 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sate vs seater

Shared letters: aest. Private to "sate": -. Private to "seater": r.

"sate" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "seater" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sateaste · ssate · stae
  • seatersaeter · seaetr · seaterr · seatre · seatter · setaer · sseater

Frequency comparison

sate#48,469
seater#25,567

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sate" and "seater" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sate" is a verb and "seater" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sate" or "seater"?
"seater" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,567 in our English list, against #48,469 for "sate". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering sate vs seater

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “sate”; for a noun, it's “seater”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sate” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list