satovssigoConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#36,283
“sato” frequency rank
#1,919
“sigo” frequency rank
38202
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sato sigo
Definition Tierra sembrada, hayan o no germinado y crecido las semillas. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de seguir.

Where the eye mixes sato and sigo

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

4 ch
sato
4 ch
sigo

Look-alike desk: sato vs sigo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sato is [ˈsat̪o] while sigo is [ˈsiɣ̞o]. 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 38202, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sato is recorded at frequency rank #36,283, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈsat̪o]. sigo is at rank #1,919, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈsiɣ̞o].

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 38202, this pair ranks #171,290 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sato vs sigo

Shared letters: os. Private to "sato": at. Private to "sigo": gi.

"sato" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "sigo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • satoasto · saot · satto · ssato · stao
  • sigocigo · isgo · sgio · siggo · siog · ssigo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sato" for "sigo" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sato" is a noun and "sigo" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "sato" or "sigo" show up more?
"sigo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,919 in our Spanish list, against #36,283 for "sato". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sato" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sigo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #171,290 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sato" and "sigo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sarro vs sato". 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 #171,290 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