SabravssobranTell them apart

Quick tell: Sabra is a name, sobran is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Sabra” is a name and “sobran” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,331
“Sabra” frequency rank
#12,717
“sobran” frequency rank
47048
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sabra sobran
Definition Ciudad de Palestina o Israel. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de sobrar.

Where the eye mixes Sabra and sobran

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Sabra runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against sobran's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Sabra
6 ch
sobran

Visual trap between Sabra and sobran

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Sabra is [ˈsaβ̞ɾa] while sobran is [ˈsoβ̞ɾãn]. 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 (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47048, 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]. sobran is at rank #12,717, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈsoβ̞ɾãn].

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 47048, this pair ranks #122,255 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Sabra vs sobran

Shared letters: abrs. Private to "Sabra": -. Private to "sobran": no.

"Sabra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "sobran" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Sabra ← asbra · sabar · sabbra · sabrra · sarba · savra · sbara · ssabra
  • sobran ← osbran · sboran · sobarn · sobbran · sobrann · sobrna · sobrran · sorban

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Sabra" and "sobran" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Sabra" is a name and "sobran" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Sabra" vs "sobran" - which ranks higher?
"sobran" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,717 in our Spanish list, against #34,331 for "Sabra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Sabra" and "sobran" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Sabra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sobran" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #122,255 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Sabra" and "sobran" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sabra vs sarro". 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 #122,255 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