say

/seɪ/

//seɪ// verb

The verdict

“say” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #15,225) as a verb. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#15,225
frequency rank, Spanish
4,169
“S” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Decir.

Corpus desk

Index ES-say · say · Spanish

say · rank #15,225 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #15,225
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,169
  • PHOTO-FINISH saudí

Nearest frequency peer: saudí (-1 rank slots)

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.

Vecinos de frecuencia del confusable “say”

Pares de peso similar en el corpus, aparte de los confusables abajo

corpus weight

What this shows Las barras sitúan “say” frente a los lemas españoles más cercanos por rango, no un reprint del escritorio de confusables.

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).

say vs se
33% similar
say vs su
33% similar
say vs sí
33% similar

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

Key facts for say
PropertyValue
Headwordsay
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/seɪ/
Letters3
Frequency rank#15,225
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rango de corpus junto a confusables de “say”

De izquierda a derecha: las pocas palabras que cargan el habla diaria, luego la cola larga casi invisible.saycae aquí:

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

Los ticks avanzan en logaritmo; cada uno es del orden de diez veces más raro. En la misma franja de rareza aparecen “saudí” (#15,224), “seguís” (#15,226), “sangrienta” (#15,223). Entre 4,169 lemas con “S”, “say” va en #15,225. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for say is neighbouring look-alikes ("se", "su", …), not just typos; it is averb pronounced /seɪ/. Frequency #15,225 among 4,169 “S” headwords. Gloss: "Decir.".

say has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable Spanish patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "se", "su", "sí", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct Spanish form is say, spelled S-A-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    Decir.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.

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 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "say"?
"say" is spelled S-A-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /seɪ/.
What does "say" mean?
As a verb, "say" means: Decir.
What words are commonly confused with "say"?
"say" is commonly confused with "se", "su", "sí". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "say"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "say" is /seɪ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "say" come from?
"say" is a Spanish word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 Spanish words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Spanish headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list