sec vs sme, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#19,268
“sec” frequency rank: #40,334
“sme” frequency rank: 59602
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	sec	sme
Definition	seco	primeira pessoa do plural do futuro do indicativo do verbo byť

Letter map: sec vs sme

Shared letters muted; letters that set sec and sme apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch

sec

3 ch

sme

Grammar separator: sec vs sme

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sec is anadjective and smeaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59602, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sec is recorded at frequency rank #19,268, classified as anadj, pronounced \sɛk\. 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 59602, this pair ranks #8,094 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sec vs sme

Shared letters: es. Private to "sec": c. Private to "sme": m.

"sec" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "sme" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sec" and "sme" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sec" is an adjective and "sme" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Frequency check: "sec" vs "sme" - which ranks higher?

"sec" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,268 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

You've compared "sec" and "sme". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "sec" 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 #8,094 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"sec" and "sme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sau vs sme". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #8,094 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.