smevssomConfusable pair

Quick tell: sme is a verb, som is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#40,334
“sme” frequency rank
#1,134
“som” frequency rank
41468
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sme som
Definition primeira pessoa do plural do futuro do indicativo do verbo byť onda longitudinal transmitida pela matéria e que podemos ouvir (geralmente entre 20Hz e 20kHz):

Letter map: sme vs som

Shared letters muted; letters that set sme and som apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
sme
3 ch
som

Part-of-speech tell for sme / som

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sme is averb and somanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41468, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sme is recorded at frequency rank #40,334, classified as averb. som is at rank #1,134, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsõ/.

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 41468, this pair ranks #24,453 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sme vs som

Shared letters: ms. Private to "sme": e. Private to "som": o.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sme" for "som" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sme" is a verb and "som" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sme" vs "som" - which ranks higher?
"som" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,134 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.

Useful next steps

You've compared "sme" and "som". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "som" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,453 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sme" and "som" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sau vs sme". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #24,453 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