sacvssteTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#23,816
“sac” frequency rank
#36,242
“ste” frequency rank
60058
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sac ste
Definition saco, bolsa segunda pessoa do plural do futuro do indicativo do verbo byť

Letter map: sac vs ste

Shared letters muted; letters that set sac and ste apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. sac (CVC) and ste (CCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
sac
3 ch
ste

Grammar separator: sac vs ste

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sac is anoun and steaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60058, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sac is recorded at frequency rank #23,816, classified as anoun, pronounced \sak\. ste is at rank #36,242, tagged as averb.

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 60058, this pair ranks #7,863 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sac vs ste

Shared letters: s. Private to "sac": ac. Private to "ste": et.

"sac" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "ste" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sac" for "ste" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sac" is a noun and "ste" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sac" vs "ste" - which ranks higher?
"sac" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,816 in our Portuguese list, against #36,242 for "ste". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "sac" vs "ste" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sac" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #7,863 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sac" and "ste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sau vs ste". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #7,863 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list