SamivssumWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#15,739
“Sami” frequency rank
#31,289
“sum” frequency rank
47028
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sami sum
Definition Gruppe von Sprachen der Samen, die in Lappland gesprochen werden 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs esse

Letter map: Sami vs sum

Shared letters muted; letters that set Sami and sum apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
Sami
3 ch
sum

Grammar separator: Sami vs sum

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Sami is anoun and sumaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47028, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Sami is recorded at frequency rank #15,739, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzaːmi]. sum is at rank #31,289, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 47028, this pair ranks #1,298,706 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Sami vs sum

Shared letters: ms. Private to "Sami": ai. Private to "sum": u.

"Sami" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "sum" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Samiasmi · saim · sammi · smai · ssami

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Sami" for "sum" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Sami" is a noun and "sum" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Sami" or "sum"?
"Sami" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,739 in our German list, against #31,289 for "sum". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Sami" and "sum".

  • Full dictionary entry for "Sami" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sum" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,298,706 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Sami" and "sum" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs sum". 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 #1,298,706 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list