sabesvssadeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: sabes is a verb, sade is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sabes” is a verb and “sade” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#474
“sabes” frequency rank
#46,795
“sade” frequency rank
47269
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sabes sade
Definition Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de saber. Lluvia.

Where the eye mixes sabes and sade

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. sabes runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against sade's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
sabes
4 ch
sade

Visual trap between sabes and sade

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sabes is [ˈsaβ̞es] while sade is [ˈsɑde]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47269, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sabes is recorded at frequency rank #474, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈsaβ̞es]. sade is at rank #46,795, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈsɑde].

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 47269, this pair ranks #121,006 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sabes vs sade

Shared letters: aes. Private to "sabes": b. Private to "sade": d.

"sabes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "sade" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sabes ← asbes · sabbes · sabess · sabse · saebs · saves · sbaes · ssabes
  • sade ← asde · sadde · saed · sdae · ssade

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sabes" and "sade" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sabes" is a verb and "sade" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "sabes" or "sade" show up more?
"sabes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #474 in our Spanish list, against #46,795 for "sade". 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 "sabes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sade" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #121,006 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sabes" and "sade" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sade vs sari". 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 #121,006 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