saysvsspasWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#42,038
“says” frequency rank
#42,628
“spas” frequency rank
84666
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature says spas
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du présent de say. Pluriel de spa.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set says and spas apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
says
4 ch
spas

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: says is \sɛz\ while spas is \spa\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84666, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

says is recorded at frequency rank #42,038, classified as averb, pronounced \sɛz\. spas is at rank #42,628, tagged as anoun, pronounced \spa\.

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 84666, this pair ranks #12,577 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of says vs spas

Shared letters: as. Private to "says": y. Private to "spas": p.

"says" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "spas" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • saysasys · sasy · sayss · sayys · ssays · syas
  • spassaps · spass · sppas · spsa · sspas

Frequency comparison

says#42,038
spas#42,628

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "says" and "spas" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "says" is a verb and "spas" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "says" or "spas"?
"says" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #42,038 in our French list, against #42,628 for "spas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering says vs spas

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “says”; for a noun, it's “spas”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “says” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list