siglovssirvoTell them apart

Quick tell: siglo is a noun, sirvo is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“siglo” is a noun and “sirvo” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#618
“siglo” frequency rank
#18,082
“sirvo” frequency rank
18700
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature siglo sirvo
Definition Período de cien años. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de servir.

Where the eye mixes siglo and sirvo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
siglo
5 ch
sirvo

Look-alike desk: siglo vs sirvo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: siglo is [ˈsiɣ̞lo] while sirvo is [ˈsiɾβ̞o]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18700, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

siglo is recorded at frequency rank #618, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈsiɣ̞lo]. sirvo is at rank #18,082, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈsiɾβ̞o].

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 18700, this pair ranks #266,835 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of siglo vs sirvo

Shared letters: ios. Private to "siglo": gl. Private to "sirvo": rv.

"siglo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "sirvo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • siglociglo · isglo · sgilo · sigglo · sigllo · sigol · silgo · ssiglo
  • sirvocirvo · isrvo · sirbo · sirov · sirrvo · sirvvo · sivro · srivo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "siglo" for "sirvo" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "siglo" is a noun and "sirvo" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "siglo" or "sirvo"?
"siglo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #618 in our Spanish list, against #18,082 for "sirvo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "siglo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sirvo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #266,835 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "siglo" and "sirvo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sarro vs sirvo". 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 #266,835 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