Which to use
“shame” and “SME” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,761
- “shame” frequency rank
- #28,024
- “SME” frequency rank
- 30785
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shame | SME |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An uncomfortable or painful feeling due to recognition or consciousness of one's own impropriety or dishonor, or something being exposed that should have been kept private. | Initialism of small and medium-sized enterprise or small- to medium-sized enterprise. |
Letter map: shame vs SME
Shared letters muted; letters that set shame and SME apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Spelling & dictionary notes on shame vs SME
shame and SME are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30785, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shame is recorded at frequency rank #2,761, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʃeɪm/. SME is at rank #28,024, tagged as anoun.
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 30785, this pair ranks #351,587 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of shame vs SME
Shared letters: ems. Private to "shame": ah. Private to "SME": -.
"shame" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "SME" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- shame ← hsame · sahme · shaem · shamme · shhame · shmae · sshame
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "shame" and "SME" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "shame" or "SME" show up more?
After this comparison
Pair "shame" vs "SME" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "shame" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "SME" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #351,587 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shame" and "SME" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sif vs SME". 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 #351,587 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.