serves

/sɝvz/

//sɝvz// verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"serves" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“serves” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,725. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,725
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - third-person singular simple present indicative of serve

Corpus desk

Index EN-serves · serves · English

serves · rank #3,725 · 9 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,725
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH Seattle

Nearest frequency peer: Seattle (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “serves”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “serves” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

serves vs seven
67% similar
serves vs sexes
67% similar
serves vs sever
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for serves
PropertyValue
Headwordserves
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/sɝvz/
Letters6
Frequency rank#3,725
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “serves”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).serveslands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “Seattle” (#3,724), “shell” (#3,726), “sciences” (#3,723). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “serves” is #3,725. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around serves (IPA /sɝvz/), averb. Corpus frequency is #3,725 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Dominant gloss: "third-person singular simple present indicative of serve".

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for serves, with forms such as "esrves", "serevs", and "serrves". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "seven", "sexes", "sever", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is serves, spelled S-E-R-V-E-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    third-person singular simple present indicative of serve

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • esrves
  • serevs
  • serrves
  • servess
  • servse
  • servves
  • sevres
  • sreves
  • sserves

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of serves - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

esrves2serevs2serrves1servess1servse2servves1sevres2sreves2
Edit distance from "serves"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "serves"?
"serves" is spelled S-E-R-V-E-S. The IPA pronunciation is /sɝvz/.
What does "serves" mean?
As a verb, "serves" means: third-person singular simple present indicative of serve
What words are commonly confused with "serves"?
"serves" is commonly confused with "seven", "sexes", "sever". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "serves"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "serves" is /sɝvz/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "serves" come from?
"serves" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "serves", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

they'd#3,729refuse#3,718arrive#3,739belong#3,740

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

Arizona9 variantsBerlin9 variantsbishop9 variantsconnect9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list