sabanavssemanaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“sabana” and “semana” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#14,702
“sabana” frequency rank
#271
“semana” frequency rank
14973
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sabana semana
Definition Llanura extensa cuya vegetación predominante son las hierbas, salpicada por algún árbol, arbusto o matorral individual o en pequeños grupos. Período de siete días consecutivos que generalmente se considera que comienza en lunes y concluye en domingo.

Where the eye mixes sabana and semana

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. sabana and semana follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
sabana
6 ch
semana

Look-alike desk: sabana vs semana

A purely visual mix-up. sabana ([saˈβ̞ana]) and semana ([seˈmana]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14973, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sabana is recorded at frequency rank #14,702, classified as anoun, pronounced [saˈβ̞ana]. semana is at rank #271, tagged as anoun, pronounced [seˈmana].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 14973, this pair ranks #281,999 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sabana vs semana

Shared letters: ans. Private to "sabana": b. Private to "semana": em.

"sabana" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "semana" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sabana ← asbana · saabna · sabaan · sabanna · sabbana · sabnaa · savana · sbaana
  • semana ← cemana · esmana · seamna · semaan · semanna · semmana · semnaa · smeana

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sabana" for "semana" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([saˈβ̞ana] versus [seˈmana]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sabana" or "semana"?
"semana" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #271 in our Spanish list, against #14,702 for "sabana". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sabana" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "semana" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #281,999 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sabana" and "semana" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sabana vs sotana". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #281,999 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list