Which to use
“sage” is a verb and “shake” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #31,548
- “sage” frequency rank
- #15,206
- “shake” frequency rank
- 46754
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sage | shake |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | primeira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo sagen | sacudidela, abalo, tremor |
Where the eye mixes sage and shake
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses sage with shake
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sage is /ˈzaːɡə/ while shake is /'ʃeɪk/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46754, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sage is recorded at frequency rank #31,548, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈzaːɡə/. shake is at rank #15,206, tagged as anoun, pronounced /'ʃeɪk/.
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 46754, this pair ranks #18,556 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sage vs shake
Shared letters: aes. Private to "sage": g. Private to "shake": hk.
"sage" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "shake" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sage" for "shake" ever safe?
Which is more common, "sage" or "shake"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "sage" and "shake" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "shake" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #18,556 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sage" and "shake" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sage vs Sau". 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 #18,556 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.