Which to use
“came” is a noun and “cem” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,551
- “came” frequency rank
- #3,188
- “cem” frequency rank
- 27739
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | came | cem |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | conjunto de manivelas que estão colocadas sobre um mesmo eixo, usadas para mover o seguidor | 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) |
Where the eye mixes came and cem
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between came and cem
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: came is /ˈkɐ.mi/ while cem is /ˈsɐ̃j̃/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27739, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
came is recorded at frequency rank #24,551, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɐ.mi/. 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 27739, this pair ranks #41,206 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of came vs cem
Shared letters: cem. Private to "came": a. Private to "cem": -.
"came" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "cem" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- came ← acme · caem · camme · ccame · cmae
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "came" and "cem" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "came" or "cem" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "came" 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 #41,206 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "came" and "cem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "came vs cham". 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 #41,206 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.