sientovssiervoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: siento is a verb, siervo is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“siento” is a verb and “siervo” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#462
“siento” frequency rank
#20,829
“siervo” frequency rank
21291
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature siento siervo
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de sentar. Persona que trabaja para otro en condición de sometimiento y servidumbre.

Where the eye mixes siento and siervo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. siento and siervo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
siento
6 ch
siervo

Why the eye confuses siento with siervo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: siento is [ˈsjẽn̪t̪o] while siervo is [ˈsjeɾβ̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21291, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

siento is recorded at frequency rank #462, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈsjẽn̪t̪o]. siervo is at rank #20,829, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈsjeɾβ̞o].

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 21291, this pair ranks #255,556 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of siento vs siervo

Shared letters: eios. Private to "siento": nt. Private to "siervo": rv.

"siento" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "siervo" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • siento ← isento · seinto · siennto · sienot · sientto · sietno · sineto · ssiento
  • siervo ← iservo · seirvo · sierbo · sierov · sierrvo · siervvo · sievro · sirevo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "siento" and "siervo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "siento" is a verb and "siervo" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "siento" vs "siervo" - which ranks higher?
"siento" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #462 in our Spanish list, against #20,829 for "siervo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "siento" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "siervo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #255,556 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "siento" and "siervo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "siervo vs siervos". 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 #255,556 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