sejamvsselimTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#923
“sejam” frequency rank
#43,648
“selim” frequency rank
44571
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sejam selim
Definition terceira pessoa do plural do presente do subjuntivo do verbo ser. sela pequena e rasa (sem arções)

Where the eye mixes sejam and selim

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

5 ch
sejam
5 ch
selim

Look-alike desk: sejam vs selim

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sejam is /ˈse.ʒã/ while selim is /sɨ.ˈlĩ/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44571, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sejam is recorded at frequency rank #923, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈse.ʒã/. selim is at rank #43,648, tagged as anoun, pronounced /sɨ.ˈlĩ/.

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 44571, this pair ranks #20,887 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sejam vs selim

Shared letters: ems. Private to "sejam": aj. Private to "selim": il.

"sejam" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "selim" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sejamesjam · seajm · sejamm · sejjam · sejma · sjeam · ssejam
  • selimeslim · seilm · selimm · sellim · selmi · sleim · sselim

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sejam" and "selim" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sejam" is a verb and "selim" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sejam" or "selim"?
"sejam" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #923 in our Portuguese list, against #43,648 for "selim". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sejam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "selim" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #20,887 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sejam" and "selim" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "selim vs slip". 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 #20,887 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