sabevssatWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#357
“sabe” frequency rank
#16,702
“sat” frequency rank
17059
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sabe sat
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de saber. Pasado simple del verbo (to) sit.

Where the eye mixes sabe and sat

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
sabe
3 ch
sat

Visual trap between sabe and sat

A purely visual mix-up. sabe ([ˈsaβ̞e]) and sat (/sæt/) 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 17059, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sabe is recorded at frequency rank #357, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈsaβ̞e]. sat is at rank #16,702, tagged as averb, pronounced /sæt/.

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 17059, this pair ranks #273,701 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sabe vs sat

Shared letters: as. Private to "sabe": be. Private to "sat": t.

"sabe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "sat" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sabeasbe · sabbe · saeb · sbae · ssabe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sabe" and "sat" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈsaβ̞e] versus /sæt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "sabe" or "sat" show up more?
"sabe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #357 in our Spanish list, against #16,702 for "sat". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sabe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sat" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #273,701 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sabe" and "sat" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sari vs sat". 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 #273,701 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