Which to use
“served” and “serviced” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,647
- “served” frequency rank
- #20,770
- “serviced” frequency rank
- 22417
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | served | serviced |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of serve | simple past and past participle of service |
Where the eye mixes served and serviced
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: served vs serviced
A purely visual mix-up. served (/sɝvd/) and serviced (/ˈsɜːvɪst/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22417, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
served is recorded at frequency rank #1,647, classified as averb, pronounced /sɝvd/. serviced is at rank #20,770, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈsɜːvɪst/.
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 22417, this pair ranks #416,738 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of served vs serviced
Shared letters: dersv. Private to "served": -. Private to "serviced": ci.
"served" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "serviced" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "served" and "serviced" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "served" or "serviced"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "served" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "serviced" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #416,738 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "served" and "serviced" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seared vs served". 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 #416,738 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.