same
/seɪm/adjective, adverb, pronoun, interjection
same is spelled S-A-M-E. The wrong spelling people search most is smae: about 180 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 23 of all searches for the word. Same is an adjective meaning “Not different or other; not another or others; not different as regards self; selfsame; identical”.
How many letters and syllables are in same?
| Letters | 4: S-A-M-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 631 times per million words; the 157th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, smae, about 180 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell same?
Same is spelled S-A-M-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 23 of the searches for same in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is same?
Same appears 631 times per million words in written English, the 157th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Same, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce same?
- US /seɪm/
- Canada /seːm/
- [seːm]
Same has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-same.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with same
Also written: same same but different.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with same?
9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as same from its last stressed vowel (/eɪm/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: mesa, seam, sema, mase.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of same
- the same
- more same comparative
- most same superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does same mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Not different or other; not another or others; not different as regards self; selfsame; identical.
I realised I was the same age as my grandfather had been when he joined the air force.
- 2
Lacking variety from; indistinguishable.
- 3
Similar, alike.
You have the same hair I do!
- 4
Used to express the unity of an object or person which has various different descriptions or qualities.
Round here it can be cloudy and sunny even in the same day.
- 5
A reply of confirmation of identity.
adverb
- 1
The same way; in the same manner; to the same extent, unchanged; equally.
A mother loves all her children the same.
- 2
UKobsoleteTogether.
pronoun
- 1
The identical thing, ditto.
The same can be said of him.
- 2
Something similar, something of the identical type.
She's having apple pie? I'll have the same. You two are just the same.
- 3
It or them, without a connotation of similarity.
The question is his credibility or lack of same.
- 4
IndiaIt or them, as above, meaning the last object mentioned, mainly as complement: on the same, for the same.
My picture/photography blog...kindly give me your reviews on the same.
interjection
- 1
Indicates approval or agreement with the previous material, especially in reference to the previous speaker's viewpoint.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Same in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | même , pareil |
| German | selbe, derselbe , gleich |
| Portuguese | mesmo, o mesmo |
| Spanish | mismo (prepositive), mesmo , mismamente, del mismo modo, de la misma manera / forma, de igual modo / manera / forma |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does same come from?
From Middle English same, from Old Norse samr (“same”) and/or Old English same, sama (“same”) in the phrase swā same (swā) (“in like manner, in the same way (as)”), both from Proto-Germanic *samaz (“same”), from Proto-Indo-European *somHós (“same”). Doublet of some and -some.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).