sãvssmeConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#17,153
“sã” frequency rank
#40,334
“sme” frequency rank
57487
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sã sme
Definition tempo propício, adequado, para semear primeira pessoa do plural do futuro do indicativo do verbo byť

Letter map: sã vs sme

Shared letters muted; letters that set sã and sme apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. sã runs 2 letters (CV) against sme's 3 (CCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

2 ch
sã
3 ch
sme

Part-of-speech tell for sã / sme

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sã is anoun and smeaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57487, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sã is recorded at frequency rank #17,153, classified as anoun. sme is at rank #40,334, tagged as averb.

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 57487, this pair ranks #9,308 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sã vs sme

Shared letters: s. Private to "sã": ã. Private to "sme": em.

"sã" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "sme" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sã" for "sme" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sã" is a noun and "sme" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sã" vs "sme" - which ranks higher?
"sã" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,153 in our Portuguese list, against #40,334 for "sme". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "sã" and "sme".

  • Full dictionary entry for "sã" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #9,308 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sã" and "sme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sau vs sme". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #9,308 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