Which to use
“sam” is an adverb and “swan” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,285
- “sam” frequency rank
- #21,783
- “swan” frequency rank
- 26068
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sam | swan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Du tout (combiné avec la négation). | Cygne. |
Letter map: sam vs swan
Shared letters muted; letters that set sam and swan apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Role in the sentence - sam and swan
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sam is anadverb and swananoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26068, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sam is recorded at frequency rank #4,285, classified as anadv. swan is at rank #21,783, tagged as anoun, pronounced \swɒn\.
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 26068, this pair ranks #337,301 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sam vs swan
Shared letters: as. Private to "sam": m. Private to "swan": nw.
"sam" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "swan" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- swan ← sawn · sswan · swna · swwan · wsan
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sam" for "swan" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "sam" or "swan" show up more?
After this comparison
Pair "sam" vs "swan" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "sam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "swan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #337,301 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sam" and "swan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "swag vs swan". 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 #337,301 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.