Which to use
“saba” and “saké” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,529
- “saba” frequency rank
- #43,653
- “saké” frequency rank
- 82182
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | saba | saké |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Langue parlée au Tchad. | Vin de riz japonais, produit par fermentation comme la bière, titrant de 14° à 17°. |
Where the eye mixes saba and saké
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. saba and saké follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: saba vs saké
A purely visual mix-up. saba (\sa.ba\) and saké (\sa.ke\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82182, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
saba is recorded at frequency rank #38,529, classified as anoun, pronounced \sa.ba\. saké is at rank #43,653, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sa.ke\.
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 82182, this pair ranks #17,238 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of saba vs saké
Shared letters: as. Private to "saba": b. Private to "saké": ké.
"saba" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "saké" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- saba ← asba · sabba · sbaa · ssaba
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "saba" for "saké" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "saba" or "saké" show up more?
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 "saba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "saké" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #17,238 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "saba" and "saké" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "saké vs stase". 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 #17,238 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.