Which to use
“servían” is a verb and “servidas” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,197
- “servían” frequency rank
- #35,749
- “servidas” frequency rank
- 55946
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | servían | servidas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de servir. | Forma del femenino plural de servido, participio de servir o de servirse. |
Where the eye mixes servían and servidas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. servían runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against servidas's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between servían and servidas
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: servían is [seɾˈβ̞iãn] while servidas is [seɾˈβ̞ið̞as]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55946, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
servían is recorded at frequency rank #20,197, classified as averb, pronounced [seɾˈβ̞iãn]. servidas is at rank #35,749, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [seɾˈβ̞ið̞as].
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 55946, this pair ranks #76,678 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of servían vs servidas
Shared letters: aersv. Private to "servían": ní. Private to "servidas": di.
"servían" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "servidas" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- servidas ← cervidas · esrvidas · serbidas · serivdas · serrvidas · servdias · serviads · servidass
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "servían" and "servidas" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "servían" or "servidas"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "servían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "servidas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #76,678 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "servían" and "servidas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sentidas vs servidas". 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 #76,678 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.