salmovssamTell them apart

Which to use

“salmo” and “sam” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#20,817
“salmo” frequency rank
#5,889
“sam” frequency rank
26706
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature salmo sam
Definition Himno, canción o poema dedicada a Dios. Arena.

Where the eye mixes salmo and sam

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
salmo
3 ch
sam

Look-alike desk: salmo vs sam

A purely visual mix-up. salmo ([ˈsalmo]) and sam (/sam/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26706, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

salmo is recorded at frequency rank #20,817, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈsalmo]. sam is at rank #5,889, tagged as anoun, pronounced /sam/.

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 26706, this pair ranks #230,362 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of salmo vs sam

Shared letters: ams. Private to "salmo": lo. Private to "sam": -.

"salmo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "sam" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • salmoaslmo · sallmo · salmmo · salom · samlo · slamo · ssalmo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "salmo" and "sam" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈsalmo] versus /sam/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "salmo" or "sam" show up more?
"sam" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,889 in our Spanish list, against #20,817 for "salmo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "salmo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sam" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #230,362 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "salmo" and "sam" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "salmo vs sarro". 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 #230,362 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list