sereisvsseremWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#42,212
“sereis” frequency rank
#812
“serem” frequency rank
43024
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sereis serem
Definition segunda pessoa do plural do futuro do presente do indicativo do verbo ser. terceira pessoa do plural do infinitivo pessoal do verbo ser:

Where the eye mixes sereis and serem

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. sereis runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against serem's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
sereis
5 ch
serem

Visual trap between sereis and serem

A purely visual mix-up. sereis (/se.ˈɾejs/) and serem (/ˈse.ɾẽ/) 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 43024, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sereis is recorded at frequency rank #42,212, classified as averb, pronounced /se.ˈɾejs/. serem is at rank #812, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈse.ɾẽ/.

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 43024, this pair ranks #22,657 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sereis vs serem

Shared letters: ers. Private to "sereis": i. Private to "serem": m.

"sereis" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "serem" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sereis ← esreis · seeris · sereiss · seresi · serreis · sreeis · ssereis
  • serem ← esrem · seerm · seremm · serme · serrem · sreem · sserem

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sereis" for "serem" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/se.ˈɾejs/ versus /ˈse.ɾẽ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sereis" vs "serem" - which ranks higher?
"serem" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #812 in our Portuguese list, against #42,212 for "sereis". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sereis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "serem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,657 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sereis" and "serem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sereis 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 #22,657 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