sme vs sob, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“sme” is a verb and “sob” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,334
“sme” frequency rank: #320
“sob” frequency rank: 40654
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	sme	sob
Definition	primeira pessoa do plural do futuro do indicativo do verbo byť	abaixo, em baixo

Letter map: sme vs sob

Shared letters muted; letters that set sme and sob apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch

sme

3 ch

sob

Grammar separator: sme vs sob

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sme is averb and sobapreposition. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40654, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sme is recorded at frequency rank #40,334, classified as averb. sob is at rank #320, tagged as aprep, pronounced /ˈsob/.

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 40654, this pair ranks #25,409 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sme vs sob

Shared letters: s. Private to "sme": em. Private to "sob": bo.

"sme" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "sob" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sme" for "sob" ever safe?

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

Frequency check: "sme" vs "sob" - which ranks higher?

"sob" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #320 in our Portuguese list, against #40,334 for "sme". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "sme" and "sob".

Full dictionary entry for "sme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "sob" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #25,409 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"sme" and "sob" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sau vs sme". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #25,409 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.