sable
/ˈseɪbəl/
"sable" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sable” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #29,449 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #29,449
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A small carnivorous mammal of the Old World that resembles a weasel, Martes zibellina, from cold regions in Eurasia and the North Pacific islands, valued for its dark brown fur.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sable |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈseɪbəl/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #29,449 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sable” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for sable is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈseɪbəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #29,449 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for sable, with forms such as "asble", "sabble", and "sabel". 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, "sal", "SLE", "same", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Attested since 1275, from Middle English sable, from Old French sable and martre sable (“sable marten”), in reference to the animal or its fur; from Medieval Latin sabelum, from Middle Low German sabel (compare Middle Dutch sabel, Middle High German zobel);… The correct English form is sable, spelled S-A-B-L-E.
Definition
- 1A small carnivorous mammal of the Old World that resembles a weasel, Martes zibellina, from cold regions in Eurasia and the North Pacific islands, valued for its dark brown fur.
- 2Any other marten, especially Martes americana (syn. Mustela americana).
- 3A pelt of fur of a sable or of one of another species of martens; a coat made from this fur.
- 4An artist's brush made from the fur of the sable, the kolinsky sable-hair brush.
- 5A black colour on a coat of arms.
- 6A dark brown colour, resembling the fur of some sables.
- 7Black garments, especially worn in mourning.
- 8The sablefish.
Etymology
Attested since 1275, from Middle English sable, from Old French sable and martre sable (“sable marten”), in reference to the animal or its fur; from Medieval Latin sabelum, from Middle Low German sabel (compare Middle Dutch sabel, Middle High German zobel); ultimately from a Slavic word (compare Russian со́боль (sóbolʹ), Polish soból, Czech sobol). Compare also Middle Persian smwl (*samōr).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: asble,sabble,sabel,sablle,salbe,sbale,sible,ssable
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sable - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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
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Using “sable”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-A-B-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈseɪbəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “sal” - see the side-by-side comparison. sable vs sal
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.