Which to use
“safe” is an adjective and “sam” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #22,086
- “safe” frequency rank
- #4,285
- “sam” frequency rank
- 26371
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | safe | sam |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sûr, qui ne pose pas de problème de sécurité. | Du tout (combiné avec la négation). |
Letter map: safe vs sam
Shared letters muted; letters that set safe and sam apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Grammar separator: safe vs sam
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: safe is anadjective and samanadverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26371, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
safe is recorded at frequency rank #22,086, classified as anadj, pronounced \sɛjf\. sam is at rank #4,285, tagged as anadv.
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 26371, this pair ranks #335,413 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of safe vs sam
Shared letters: as. Private to "safe": ef. Private to "sam": m.
"safe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "sam" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- safe ← asfe · saef · saffe · sfae · ssafe
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "safe" for "sam" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "safe" or "sam" show up more?
After this comparison
Pair "safe" vs "sam" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "safe" 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 #335,413 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "safe" and "sam" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "safe vs stase". 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 #335,413 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.