servicevsservicioWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#12,478
“service” frequency rank
#384
“servicio” frequency rank
12862
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature service servicio
Definition Servicio. Acción o efecto de servir

Where the eye mixes service and servicio

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
service
8 ch
servicio

Why the eye confuses service with servicio

A purely visual mix-up. service (/ˈsɜː.vɪs/) and servicio ([seɾˈβ̞isjo]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12862, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

service is recorded at frequency rank #12,478, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɜː.vɪs/. servicio is at rank #384, tagged as anoun, pronounced [seɾˈβ̞isjo].

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 12862, this pair ranks #289,984 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of service vs servicio

Shared letters: ceirsv. Private to "service": -. Private to "servicio": o.

"service" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "servicio" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • servicecervice · esrvice · serbice · serivce · serrvice · servcie · servicce · serviec
  • serviciocervicio · esrvicio · serbicio · serivcio · serrvicio · servciio · serviccio · servicoi

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "service" for "servicio" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈsɜː.vɪs/ versus [seɾˈβ̞isjo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "service" vs "servicio" - which ranks higher?
"servicio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #384 in our Spanish list, against #12,478 for "service". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "service" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "servicio" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #289,984 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "service" and "servicio" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "service vs serviles". 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 #289,984 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