shame vs sme, What's the Difference?

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

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set shame and sme apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

shame

3 ch

sme

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

Frequency comparison

shame#36,228

sme#40,334

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "shame" and "sme" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "shame" is a noun and "sme" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "shame" or "sme"?

"shame" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,228 in our Portuguese list, against #40,334 for "sme". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering shame vs sme

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “shame”; for a verb, it's “sme”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “shame” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable