sabevssaeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#357
“sabe” frequency rank
#32,867
“sae” frequency rank
33224
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sabe sae
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de saber. Tercera persona del singular (el, ela, vostede) del presente de indicativo de saír.

Where the eye mixes sabe and sae

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
sabe
3 ch
sae

Visual trap between sabe and sae

A purely visual mix-up. sabe ([ˈsaβ̞e]) and sae ([ˈsaɪ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33224, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sabe is recorded at frequency rank #357, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈsaβ̞e]. sae is at rank #32,867, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈsaɪ].

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 33224, this pair ranks #197,936 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sabe vs sae

Shared letters: aes. Private to "sabe": b. Private to "sae": -.

"sabe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "sae" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sabeasbe · sabbe · saeb · sbae · ssabe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sabe" and "sae" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈsaβ̞e] versus [ˈsaɪ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sabe" vs "sae" - which ranks higher?
"sabe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #357 in our Spanish list, against #32,867 for "sae". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sabe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sae" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #197,936 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sabe" and "sae" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sae vs stem". 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 #197,936 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