Sabah

/ˈsɑːbɑː/

//ˈsɑːbɑː// name

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"sabah" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“Sabah” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #32,575. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#32,575
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A state in eastern Malaysia located at the Northern part of the Borneo island with the main city Kota Kinabalu as its capital.

Corpus desk

Index EN-sabah · Sabah · English

Sabah · rank #32,575 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #32,575
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH Salinas

Nearest frequency peer: Salinas (+1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “Sabah”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “Sabah” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

Sabah vs SBA
20% similar
Sabah vs Sara
60% similar
Sabah vs saga
40% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for Sabah
PropertyValue
HeadwordSabah
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
IPA/ˈsɑːbɑː/
Letters5
Frequency rank#32,575
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “Sabah”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).Sabahlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “Salinas” (#32,576), “ruffled” (#32,573), “Salomon” (#32,577). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “Sabah” is #32,575. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around Sabah (IPA /ˈsɑːbɑː/), aproper noun. Corpus frequency is #32,575 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Dominant gloss: "A state in eastern Malaysia located at the Northern part of the Borneo island with the main city Kota Kinabalu as its capital.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for Sabah, with forms such as "asbah", "saabh", and "sabahh". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "SBA", "Sara", "saga", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Malay Sabah. The correct English form is Sabah, spelled S-A-B-A-H.

Definition

  1. 1
    A state in eastern Malaysia located at the Northern part of the Borneo island with the main city Kota Kinabalu as its capital.

Etymology

From Malay Sabah.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • asbah
  • saabh
  • sabahh
  • sabbah
  • sbaah
  • ssabah

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Sabah - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

asbah2saabh2sabahh1sabbah1sbaah2ssabah1
Edit distance from "Sabah"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Sabah"?
"Sabah" is spelled S-A-B-A-H. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈsɑːbɑː/.
What does "Sabah" mean?
As a proper noun, "Sabah" means: A state in eastern Malaysia located at the Northern part of the Borneo island with the main city Kota Kinabalu as its capital.
What words are commonly confused with "Sabah"?
"Sabah" is commonly confused with "SBA", "Sara", "saga". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "Sabah"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Sabah" is /ˈsɑːbɑː/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "Sabah"?
From Malay Sabah. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Sabah", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Santi#32,580roars#32,568serra#32,586Shang#32,590

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

ROTC6 variantsreeve6 variantssnot6 variantsMeier6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list