calmvscameWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: calm is a adjective, came is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“calm” is an adjective and “came” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,176
“calm” frequency rank
#24,551
“came” frequency rank
58727
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature calm came
Definition calmo conjunto de manivelas que estão colocadas sobre um mesmo eixo, usadas para mover o seguidor

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set calm and came apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
calm
4 ch
came

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: calm is /kɑːm/ while came is /ˈkɐ.mi/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58727, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

calm is recorded at frequency rank #34,176, classified as anadj, pronounced /kɑːm/. came is at rank #24,551, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɐ.mi/.

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 58727, this pair ranks #8,578 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of calm vs came

Shared letters: acm. Private to "calm": l. Private to "came": e.

"calm" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "came" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • calmaclm · callm · calmm · caml · ccalm · clam
  • cameacme · caem · camme · ccame · cmae

Frequency comparison

calm#34,176
came#24,551

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "calm" and "came" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "calm" is an adjective and "came" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "calm" or "came"?
"came" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,551 in our Portuguese list, against #34,176 for "calm". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering calm vs came

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “calm”; for a noun, it's “came”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “calm” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list