Which to use
“com” is a preposition and “comme” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14
- “com” frequency rank
- #36,383
- “comme” frequency rank
- 36397
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | com | comme |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | indica várias relações: companhia, causa, instrumento, ligação, modo, oposição | como. |
Where the eye mixes com and comme
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: com vs comme
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: com is /kõ/ while comme is [kɔm]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “com” sits inside “comme”, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36397, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
com is recorded at frequency rank #14, classified as aprep, pronounced /kõ/. comme is at rank #36,383, tagged as anadv, pronounced [kɔm].
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 36397, this pair ranks #30,426 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of com vs comme
Shared letters: cmo. Private to "com": -. Private to "comme": e.
"com" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "comme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- comme ← ccomme · cmome · come · comem · ocmme
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "com" for "comme" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "com" or "comme" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "com" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "comme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #30,426 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "com" and "comme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coice vs comme". 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 #30,426 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.