Which to use
“sans” is a preposition and “sav” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #80
- “sans” frequency rank
- #18,316
- “sav” frequency rank
- 18396
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sans | sav |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Préposition marquant l’absence, le manque, l’exclusion d’une personne, d’une chose. — Note d’usage : On n’utilise généralement pas d’article indéfini ou partitif. Peut s’accentuer avec aucun. | Position debout. |
Where the eye mixes sans and sav
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between sans and sav
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sans is \sɑ̃\ while sav is \ˈsaw\. 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 (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18396, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sans is recorded at frequency rank #80, classified as aprep, pronounced \sɑ̃\. sav is at rank #18,316, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈsaw\.
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 18396, this pair ranks #378,541 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sans vs sav
Shared letters: as. Private to "sans": n. Private to "sav": v.
"sans" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "sav" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- sans ← asns · sanns · sanss · sasn · snas · ssans
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sans" and "sav" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "sans" vs "sav" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "sans" and "sav" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sans" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sav" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #378,541 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sans" and "sav" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sav vs suu". 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 #378,541 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.