samevsspaceWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#14,027
“same” frequency rank
#13,845
“space” frequency rank
27872
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature same space
Definition relativo ao povo same, que habita partes da Finlândia, da Noruega, da Suécia e da Rússia espaço

Where the eye mixes same and space

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

4 ch
same
5 ch
space

Visual trap between same and space

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: same is /ˈsa.mi/ while space is /ˈspeɪs/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27872, 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/. space is at rank #13,845, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈspeɪs/.

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 27872, this pair ranks #41,042 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of same vs space

Shared letters: aes. Private to "same": m. Private to "space": cp.

"same" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "space" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sameasme · saem · samme · smae · ssame
  • spacepsace · sapce · spacce · spaec · spcae · sppace · sspace

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "same" for "space" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "same" is an adjective and "space" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "same" vs "space" - which ranks higher?
"space" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,845 in our Portuguese list, against #14,027 for "same". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "same" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "space" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #41,042 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "same" and "space" 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 #41,042 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