servicedvsservicesConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#20,770
“serviced” frequency rank
#494
“services” frequency rank
21264
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature serviced services
Definition simple past and past participle of service That which is produced, then traded, bought or sold, then finally consumed and consists of an action or work.

Where the eye mixes serviced and services

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
serviced
8 ch
services

Why the eye confuses serviced with services

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: serviced is /ˈsɜːvɪst/ while services is /ˈsɜː.vɪ.sɪz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “serviced” becomes s in “services”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21264, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

serviced is recorded at frequency rank #20,770, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈsɜːvɪst/. services is at rank #494, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɜː.vɪ.sɪz/.

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 21264, this pair ranks #425,128 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of serviced vs services

Shared letters: ceirsv. Private to "serviced": d. Private to "services": -.

"serviced" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "services" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • servicedesrviced · serivced · serrviced · servcied · servicced · servicde · servicedd · serviecd
  • servicesesrvices · serivces · serrvices · servcies · servicces · servicess · servicse · serviecs

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "serviced" for "services" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "serviced" is a verb and "services" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "serviced" vs "services" - which ranks higher?
"services" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #494 in our English list, against #20,770 for "serviced". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "serviced" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "services" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #425,128 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "serviced" and "services" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "served vs serviced". 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 #425,128 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list