sejamvsseriamWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“sejam” and “seriam” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#923
“sejam” frequency rank
#2,072
“seriam” frequency rank
2995
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sejam seriam
Definition terceira pessoa do plural do presente do subjuntivo do verbo ser. terceira pessoa do plural do futuro do pretérito do indicativo do verbo ser.

Where the eye mixes sejam and seriam

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
sejam
6 ch
seriam

Visual trap between sejam and seriam

A purely visual mix-up. sejam (/ˈse.ʒã/) and seriam (/se.ˈɾi.ã/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2995, 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/. seriam is at rank #2,072, tagged as averb, pronounced /se.ˈɾi.ã/.

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 2995, this pair ranks #72,218 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sejam vs seriam

Shared letters: aems. Private to "sejam": j. Private to "seriam": ir.

"sejam" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "seriam" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sejamesjam · seajm · sejamm · sejjam · sejma · sjeam · ssejam
  • seriamesriam · seiram · seraim · seriamm · serima · serriam · sreiam · sseriam

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sejam" and "seriam" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈse.ʒã/ versus /se.ˈɾi.ã/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sejam" vs "seriam" - which ranks higher?
"sejam" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #923 in our Portuguese list, against #2,072 for "seriam". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "sejam" and "seriam" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sejam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "seriam" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #72,218 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sejam" and "seriam" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seriam vs serias". 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 #72,218 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