Which to use
“sem” is a preposition and “sme” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #69
- “sem” frequency rank
- #40,334
- “sme” frequency rank
- 40403
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sem | sme |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | indicativa de carência ou ausência | primeira pessoa do plural do futuro do indicativo do verbo byť |
Letter map: sem vs sme
Shared letters muted; letters that set sem and sme apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Grammar separator: sem vs sme
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sem is apreposition and smeaverb. On the page they differ only by swapping two adjacent letters (em ↔ me) - a transposition the eye reads straight past. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40403, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sem is recorded at frequency rank #69, classified as aprep, pronounced /sɐ̃j̃/. 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 40403, this pair ranks #25,725 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sem vs sme
Shared letters: ems. Private to "sem": -. Private to "sme": -.
"sem" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "sme" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sem" and "sme" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "sem" or "sme" show up more?
What to do next
You've compared "sem" and "sme". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "sem" 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 #25,725 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sem" and "sme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sau vs sme". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #25,725 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.