servíanvsservidoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“servían” and “servido” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#20,197
“servían” frequency rank
#5,669
“servido” frequency rank
25866
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature servían servido
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de servir. Participio de servir o de servirse.

Where the eye mixes servían and servido

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

7 ch
servían
7 ch
servido

Visual trap between servían and servido

A purely visual mix-up. servían ([seɾˈβ̞iãn]) and servido ([seɾˈβ̞ið̞o]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25866, 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]. servido is at rank #5,669, tagged as averb, pronounced [seɾˈβ̞ið̞o].

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 25866, this pair ranks #234,441 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of servían vs servido

Shared letters: ersv. Private to "servían": aní. Private to "servido": dio.

"servían" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "servido" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • servidocervido · esrvido · serbido · serivdo · serrvido · servdio · serviddo · serviod

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "servían" for "servido" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([seɾˈβ̞iãn] versus [seɾˈβ̞ið̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "servían" or "servido"?
"servido" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,669 in our Spanish list, against #20,197 for "servían". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "servían" and "servido" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "servían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "servido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #234,441 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "servían" and "servido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Servia vs servían". 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 #234,441 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list