sate

/seɪt/

//seɪt// verb

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

"sate" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“sate” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #48,469) as a verb. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#48,469
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
3
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To satisfy the appetite or desire of; to fill up.

Corpus desk

Index EN-sate · sate · English

sate · rank #48,469 · 3 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #48,469
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 3 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH sardonic

Nearest frequency peer: sardonic (-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 neighbours of confusable “sate”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “sate” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

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).

sate vs se
50% similar
sate vs she
50% similar
sate vs see
50% similar

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

Key facts for sate
PropertyValue
Headwordsate
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/seɪt/
Letters4
Frequency rank#48,469
Misspellings tracked3
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “sate”

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).satelands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “sardonic” (#48,468), “sanctimonious” (#48,467), “Schafer” (#48,471). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “sate” is #48,469. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for sate is neighbouring look-alikes ("se", "she", …), not just typos; it is averb pronounced /seɪt/. Frequency #48,469 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Gloss: "To satisfy the appetite or desire of; to fill up.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 3 likely wrong-spelling variants for sate, with forms such as "aste", "ssate", and "stae". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "se", "she", "see", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Alteration (after words such as satiate and satisfy) of earlier sade (“to weary, satiate, satisfy”), from Middle English saden (“to weary, satisfy, become wearied or satiated”), from Old English sadian (“to satisfy, satiate, fill, be sated, become wearied”)… The correct English form is sate, spelled S-A-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    To satisfy the appetite or desire of; to fill up.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how sate appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. At last he stopped, his hunger and thirst sated.
  2. crowds of wanderers sated with the business and pleasure of great cities

Etymology

Alteration (after words such as satiate and satisfy) of earlier sade (“to weary, satiate, satisfy”), from Middle English saden (“to weary, satisfy, become wearied or satiated”), from Old English sadian (“to satisfy, satiate, fill, be sated, become wearied”), from Proto-West Germanic *sadōn (“to satiate, become satisfied”), from Proto-Germanic *sadaz (“sated”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂- (“to satiate, be satisfied”). Cognate with Middle Low German saden, Middle High German saten (“to saturate, satisfy, satiate”), Icelandic seðja (“to satisfy”). Doublet of sad.

This word in other languages

saciar(Español)sättigen(Deutsch)saciar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • aste
  • ssate
  • stae

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sate - 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.

aste2ssate1stae2
Edit distance from "sate"

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 "sate"?
"sate" is spelled S-A-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is /seɪt/.
What does "sate" mean?
As a verb, "sate" means: To satisfy the appetite or desire of; to fill up.
What words are commonly confused with "sate"?
"sate" is commonly confused with "se", "she", "see". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "sate"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sate" is /seɪt/. 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 "sate"?
Alteration (after words such as satiate and satisfy) of earlier sade (“to weary, satiate, satisfy”), from Middle English saden (“to weary, satisfy, become wearied or satiated”), from Old English sadian (“to satisfy, satiate, fill, be sated, become... 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 "sate", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Ryde#48,464rood#48,460Sieg#48,480sone#48,495

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list