SabravsSamoaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#34,331
“Sabra” frequency rank
#41,066
“Samoa” frequency rank
75397
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sabra Samoa
Definition Ciudad de Palestina o Israel. País de Oceanía formado por las islas Savai'i y Upolu en la parte occidental del archipiélago de Samoa, en Polinesia. Hasta 1997 se llamó Samoa Occidental.

Where the eye mixes Sabra and Samoa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Sabra (CVCCV) and Samoa (CVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Sabra
5 ch
Samoa

Visual trap between Sabra and Samoa

A purely visual mix-up. Sabra ([ˈsaβ̞ɾa]) and Samoa ([saˈmoa]) 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 75397, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Sabra is recorded at frequency rank #34,331, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈsaβ̞ɾa]. Samoa is at rank #41,066, tagged as aname, pronounced [saˈmoa].

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 75397, this pair ranks #19,624 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Sabra vs Samoa

Shared letters: as. Private to "Sabra": br. Private to "Samoa": mo.

"Sabra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Samoa" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Sabra ← asbra · sabar · sabbra · sabrra · sarba · savra · sbara · ssabra
  • Samoa ← samao · sammoa · smaoa · ssamoa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Sabra" and "Samoa" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈsaβ̞ɾa] versus [saˈmoa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "Sabra" or "Samoa" show up more?
"Sabra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,331 in our Spanish list, against #41,066 for "Samoa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Sabra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Samoa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #19,624 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Sabra" and "Samoa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "saeta vs Samoa". 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 #19,624 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