pretended vs sham

pretended is not a noun while sham is a noun.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
pretended	No	Yes	No	No
sham	Yes	Yes	Yes	No

As adjectives, pretended and sham are synonyms defined as:

Other synonyms of pretended include assumed, false, fictitious, fictive, put on.

pretended (noun)	sham (noun)
	something that is a counterfeit; not what it seems to be
	a person who makes deceitful pretenses

pretended (adjective)	sham (adjective)
adopted in order to deceive	adopted in order to deceive

pretended (verb)	sham (verb)
	make believe with the intent to deceive
	make a pretence of