sage

\saʒ\

/\saʒ\/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“sage” has 5 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #3,960. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,960
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui est prudent, circonspect, judicieux ; qui a un sentiment juste des choses.

Corpus desk

Index FR-sage · sage · French

sage · rank #3,960 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,960
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH répète

Nearest frequency peer: répète (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “sage”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “sage” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

sage vs se
50% similar
sage vs SG
0% similar
sage vs san
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for sage
PropertyValue
Headwordsage
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\saʒ\
Letters4
Frequency rank#3,960
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Où “sage” se place dans la fréquence du français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).sagese place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « répète » (#3,959), « savons » (#3,961), « récente » (#3,958). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around sage (IPA \saʒ\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #3,960 among 6,032 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for sage, with forms such as "asge", "saeg", and "sagge". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "se", "SG", "san", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is sage, spelled S-A-G-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui est prudent, circonspect, judicieux ; qui a un sentiment juste des choses.
  2. 2
    Qui est modéré, retenu ; qui est maître de ses passions ; qui est réglé dans ses mœurs, dans sa conduite.
  3. 3
    Qualifie une jeune fille ou une femme qui est chaste, pudique et une conduite irréprochable.
  4. 4
    Qualifie les actions, les paroles, etc., où la prudence ou la sagesse se fait remarquer.
  5. 5
    Qualifie un enfant qui n’est pas turbulent.
  6. 6
    Se dit d'un cheval de course de trot qui ne se met pas au galop, dont l'allure se maintient dans le trot régulier.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how sage appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. On donna une belle maison au pêcheur. Orcan fut condamné à lui payer une grosse somme et à lui rendre sa femme ; mais le pêcheur, devenu sage, ne prit que l’argent.
  2. Philéas Beauvisage, garçon sage et plein de respect pour sa mère, eut bientôt conclu l’affaire avec son patron ; et comme il tenait de ses parents la bosse que les phrénologistes appellent l’acquisivité, son ardeur de jeunesse se porta sur ce commerce qui lui parut magnifique et qu’il voulut agrandir par la spéculation.

Antonyms

malsage

This word in other languages

wise(English)prudente(Español)weise(Deutsch)prudente(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • asge
  • saeg
  • sagge
  • sgae
  • ssage

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sage - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

asge2saeg2sagge1sgae2ssage1
Edit distance from "sage"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "sage"?
"sage" is spelled S-A-G-E. The IPA pronunciation is \saʒ\.
What does "sage" mean?
As an adjective, "sage" means: Qui est prudent, circonspect, judicieux ; qui a un sentiment juste des choses.
What words are commonly confused with "sage"?
"sage" is commonly confused with "se", "SG", "san". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "sage"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sage" is \saʒ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "sage" come from?
"sage" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sage", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

abbé#3,973lion#3,935game#3,997fine#3,919

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).

jette5 variantsissus5 variantsmike5 variantsreal5 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list