samevsseteTell them apart

Quick tell: same is a adjective, sete is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“same” is an adjective and “sete” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,027
“same” frequency rank
#858
“sete” frequency rank
14885
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature same sete
Definition relativo ao povo same, que habita partes da Finlândia, da Noruega, da Suécia e da Rússia cardinalidade de um conjunto que contenha sete elementos distintos; número equivalente a seis mais um, representado pelo símbolo 7 em algarismos arábicos ou VII/vii em algarismos romanos

Where the eye mixes same and sete

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
same
4 ch
sete

Visual trap between same and sete

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: same is /ˈsa.mi/ while sete is /ˈsɛ.tʃi/, /ˈsɛ.ti/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14885, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

same is recorded at frequency rank #14,027, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈsa.mi/. sete is at rank #858, tagged as anum, pronounced /ˈsɛ.tʃi/, /ˈsɛ.ti/.

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 14885, this pair ranks #57,087 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of same vs sete

Shared letters: es. Private to "same": am. Private to "sete": t.

"same" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "sete" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sameasme · saem · samme · smae · ssame
  • seteseet · sette · ssete · stee

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "same" and "sete" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "same" is an adjective and "sete" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "same" or "sete" show up more?
"sete" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #858 in our Portuguese list, against #14,027 for "same". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "same" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sete" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #57,087 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "same" and "sete" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "same vs Sau". 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 #57,087 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