Which to use
“shame” is a noun and “sme” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,228
- “shame” frequency rank
- #40,334
- “sme” frequency rank
- 76562
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shame | sme |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | vergonha; desonra | primeira pessoa do plural do futuro do indicativo do verbo byť |
Letter map: shame vs sme
Shared letters muted; letters that set shame and sme apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. shame runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against sme's 3 (CCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: shame vs sme
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: shame is anoun and smeaverb. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76562, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shame is recorded at frequency rank #36,228, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʃeɪm/. 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 76562, this pair ranks #2,068 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of shame vs sme
Shared letters: ems. Private to "shame": ah. Private to "sme": -.
"shame" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "sme" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- shame ← hsame · sahme · shaem · shamme · shhame · shmae · sshame
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "shame" and "sme" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "shame" or "sme" show up more?
After this comparison
Pair "shame" vs "sme" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "shame" 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 #2,068 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shame" and "sme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sau vs sme". 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 #2,068 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.