salesvssaltéConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#5,254
“sales” frequency rank
#45,596
“salté” frequency rank
50850
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sales salté
Definition Mezcla de diversos compuestos salinos. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de saltar.

Where the eye mixes sales and salté

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

5 ch
sales
5 ch
salté

Why the eye confuses sales with salté

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sales is [ˈsales] while salté is [sal̪ˈt̪e]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50850, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sales is recorded at frequency rank #5,254, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈsales]. salté is at rank #45,596, tagged as averb, pronounced [sal̪ˈt̪e].

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 50850, this pair ranks #101,003 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sales vs salté

Shared letters: als. Private to "sales": e. Private to "salté": té.

"sales" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "salté" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sales ← asles · saels · saless · salles · salse · slaes · ssales

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sales" and "salté" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sales" is a noun and "salté" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "sales" or "salté" show up more?
"sales" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,254 in our Spanish list, against #45,596 for "salté". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "sales" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "salté" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #101,003 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sales" and "salté" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sácate vs salté". 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 #101,003 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