cima vs cum, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“cima” is a noun and “cum” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#580
“cima” frequency rank: #29,299
“cum” frequency rank: 29879
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	cima	cum
Definition	a parte superior de alguma coisa; alto, cume, cimeira, topo	usado para indicar algo com duas funções, ou então que tenha se modificado de uma coisa para outra:

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cima and cum apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

cima

3 ch

cum

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cima is /ˈsi.mɐ/ while cum is /kʌm/. 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 preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29879, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cima is recorded at frequency rank #580, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsi.mɐ/. cum is at rank #29,299, tagged as aprep, pronounced /kʌm/.

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 29879, this pair ranks #38,650 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cima vs cum

Shared letters: cm. Private to "cima": ai. Private to "cum": u.

"cima" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "cum" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

cima ← ccima · ciam · cimma · cmia · icma

Frequency comparison

cima#580

cum#29,299

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cima" and "cum" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cima" is a noun and "cum" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "cima" or "cum"?

"cima" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #580 in our Portuguese list, against #29,299 for "cum". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering cima vs cum

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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