sake
/ˈseɪk/
"sake" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sake” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,652. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #3,652
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - Cause, interest or account.
Corpus desk
Index EN-sake · sake · English
sake · rank #3,652 · 5 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #3,652
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH rugby
Nearest frequency peer: rugby (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “sake”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- printed
printed
96,352 corpus weight
- recall
recall
96,351 corpus weight
- rugby
rugby
96,350 corpus weight
- sake
sake
96,349 corpus weight
- sheet
sheet
96,348 corpus weight
- signing
signing
96,347 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “sake” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | sake |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈseɪk/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #3,652 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sake” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around sake (IPA /ˈseɪk/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #3,652 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for sake, with forms such as "aske", "saek", and "sakke". 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, "se", "SK", "she", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sake (“sake, cause”), from Old English sacu (“cause, lawsuit, legal action, complaint, issue, dispute”), from Proto-West Germanic *saku, from Proto-Germanic *sakō (“affair, thing, charge, accusation, matter”), from Proto-Indo-European *s… The correct English form is sake, spelled S-A-K-E.
Definition
- 1Cause, interest or account.
- 2Purpose or end; reason.
- 3The benefit or regard of someone or something.
- 4Contention, strife; guilt, sin, accusation or charge.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how sake appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
For the sake of argument
For old times' sake
Etymology
From Middle English sake (“sake, cause”), from Old English sacu (“cause, lawsuit, legal action, complaint, issue, dispute”), from Proto-West Germanic *saku, from Proto-Germanic *sakō (“affair, thing, charge, accusation, matter”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- (“to investigate”). Akin to West Frisian saak (“cause; business”), Low German Saak, Dutch zaak (“matter; cause; business”), German Sache (“thing; matter; cause; legal cause”), Danish sag, Swedish and Norwegian sak, Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌺𐌾𐍉 (sakjō, “dispute, argument”), Old English sōcn (“inquiry, prosecution”), Old English sēcan (“to seek”). More at soke, soken, seek.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- aske
- saek
- sakke
- skae
- ssake
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sake - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "sake"?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sake", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).
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.