CvscemWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: C is a noun, cem is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“C” is a noun and “cem” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#372
“C” frequency rank
#3,188
“cem” frequency rank
3560
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature C cem
Definition linguagem de programação de alto nível para computadores, voltada para o desenvolvimento de sistemas e aplicativos 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)

Letter map: C vs cem

Shared letters muted; letters that set C and cem apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

1 ch
C
3 ch
cem

Part-of-speech tell for C / cem

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: C is anoun and cemanum. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “C” sits inside “cem”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3560, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

C is recorded at frequency rank #372, classified as anoun. cem is at rank #3,188, tagged as anum, pronounced /ˈsɐ̃j̃/.

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 3560, this pair ranks #71,561 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of C vs cem

Shared letters: c. Private to "C": -. Private to "cem": em.

"C" · 1 letters · shape C  ·  "cem" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "C" for "cem" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "C" is a noun and "cem" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "C" or "cem" show up more?
"C" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #372 in our Portuguese list, against #3,188 for "cem". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "C" vs "cem" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "C" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #71,561 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "C" and "cem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cem vs cham". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #71,561 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list