sirvevssirvesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,361
“sirve” frequency rank
#41,639
“sirves” frequency rank
43000
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sirve sirves
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de servir. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de servir.

Where the eye mixes sirve and sirves

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
sirve
6 ch
sirves

Look-alike desk: sirve vs sirves

A purely visual mix-up. sirve ([ˈsiɾβ̞e]) and sirves ([ˈsiɾβ̞es]) 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 extra letter(s) - “sirve” sits inside “sirves”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43000, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sirve is recorded at frequency rank #1,361, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈsiɾβ̞e]. sirves is at rank #41,639, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈsiɾβ̞es].

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 43000, this pair ranks #145,102 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sirve vs sirves

Shared letters: eirsv. Private to "sirve": -. Private to "sirves": -.

"sirve" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "sirves" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sirvecirve · isrve · sirbe · sirev · sirrve · sirvve · sivre · srive
  • sirvescirves · isrves · sirbes · sirevs · sirrves · sirvess · sirvse · sirvves

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sirve" and "sirves" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈsiɾβ̞e] versus [ˈsiɾβ̞es]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sirve" or "sirves"?
"sirve" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,361 in our Spanish list, against #41,639 for "sirves". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sirve" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sirves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #145,102 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sirve" and "sirves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sirias vs sirves". 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 #145,102 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