sakévssanConfusable pair

Which to use

“saké” and “san” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#43,653
“saké” frequency rank
#2,493
“san” frequency rank
46146
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature saké san
Definition Vin de riz japonais, produit par fermentation comme la bière, titrant de 14° à 17°. Ϻ et ϻ, ancienne lettre de l’alphabet grec.

Where the eye mixes saké and san

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

4 ch
saké
3 ch
san

Look-alike desk: saké vs san

A purely visual mix-up. saké (\sa.ke\) and san (\san\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46146, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

saké is recorded at frequency rank #43,653, classified as anoun, pronounced \sa.ke\. san is at rank #2,493, tagged as anoun, pronounced \san\.

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 46146, this pair ranks #197,244 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of saké vs san

Shared letters: as. Private to "saké": . Private to "san": n.

"saké" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "san" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "saké" and "san" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\sa.ke\ versus \san\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "saké" or "san"?
"san" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,493 in our French list, against #43,653 for "saké". 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 "saké" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "san" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #197,244 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "saké" and "san" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "saké vs stase". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #197,244 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list