gemvsgemerWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: gem is a noun, gemer is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gem” is a noun and “gemer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,472
“gem” frequency rank
#31,787
“gemer” frequency rank
68259
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gem gemer
Definition gema (pedra preciosa) dar gemidos

Where the eye mixes gem and gemer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
gem
5 ch
gemer

Look-alike desk: gem vs gemer

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gem is /ʤɛm/ while gemer is /ʒɨ.ˈmeɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “gem” sits inside “gemer”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68259, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gem is recorded at frequency rank #36,472, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʤɛm/. gemer is at rank #31,787, tagged as averb, pronounced /ʒɨ.ˈmeɾ/.

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 68259, this pair ranks #4,332 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of gem vs gemer

Shared letters: egm. Private to "gem": -. Private to "gemer": r.

"gem" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "gemer" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gemeregmer · geemr · gemerr · gemmer · gemre · ggemer · gmeer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gem" for "gemer" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gem" is a noun and "gemer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "gem" vs "gemer" - which ranks higher?
"gemer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,787 in our Portuguese list, against #36,472 for "gem". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "gem" and "gemer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gemer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #4,332 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gem" and "gemer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gem vs GQ". 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 #4,332 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