sanovssinWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: sano is a adjective, sin is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sano” is an adjective and “sin” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,650
“sano” frequency rank
#41
“sin” frequency rank
4691
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sano sin
Definition Que está en buen estado de salud. Indica la ausencia, carencia o falta de algo.

Where the eye mixes sano and sin

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

4 ch
sano
3 ch
sin

Look-alike desk: sano vs sin

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sano is [ˈsano] while sin is [sĩn]. 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 (adjective vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4691, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sano is recorded at frequency rank #4,650, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈsano]. sin is at rank #41, tagged as aprep, pronounced [sĩn].

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 4691, this pair ranks #315,476 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sano vs sin

Shared letters: ns. Private to "sano": ao. Private to "sin": i.

"sano" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "sin" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sanosanno · saon · snao · ssano

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sano" and "sin" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sano" is an adjective and "sin" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "sano" or "sin" show up more?
"sin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41 in our Spanish list, against #4,650 for "sano". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sano" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #315,476 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sano" and "sin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sano 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 #315,476 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