cem
/ˈsɐ̃j̃/
The verdict
“cem” is a regularly-used Portuguese word, ranked #3,188 in Portuguese word frequency and used as a numeral.
- #3,188
- frequency rank, Portuguese
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - número equivalente a dez dezenas; cardinalidade de um conjunto que contenha uma centena de elementos distintos; representado pelo símbolo 100 (algarismos arábicos) ou C (algarismos romanos)
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cem |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Part of speech | Numeral |
| IPA | /ˈsɐ̃j̃/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #3,188 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cem” sits in Portuguese frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Portuguese entry for cem is 3 letters long, classified as a numeral, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsɐ̃j̃/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,188 in overall Portuguese word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "número equivalente a dez dezenas; cardinalidade de um conjunto que contenha uma centena de elementos distintos; representado pelo símbolo 100 (algarismos arábicos) ou C (algarismos romanos)".
Zero misspellings are on record for cem in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "co", "cu", "ci", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct Portuguese form is cem, spelled C-E-M.
Definition
- 1número equivalente a dez dezenas; cardinalidade de um conjunto que contenha uma centena de elementos distintos; representado pelo símbolo 100 (algarismos arábicos) ou C (algarismos romanos)
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “cem”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Portuguese spelling is C-E-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsɐ̃j̃/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “co” - see the side-by-side comparison. cem vs co
- Browse more Portuguese words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Portuguese words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.