sirvióvssirvoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,158
“sirvió” frequency rank
#18,082
“sirvo” frequency rank
23240
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sirvió sirvo
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de servir. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de servir.

Where the eye mixes sirvió and sirvo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. sirvió runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against sirvo's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
sirvió
5 ch
sirvo

Why the eye confuses sirvió with sirvo

A purely visual mix-up. sirvió ([siɾˈβ̞jo]) and sirvo ([ˈsiɾβ̞o]) 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 23240, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sirvió is recorded at frequency rank #5,158, classified as averb, pronounced [siɾˈβ̞jo]. 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 23240, this pair ranks #246,713 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sirvió vs sirvo

Shared letters: irsv. Private to "sirvió": ó. Private to "sirvo": o.

"sirvió" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "sirvo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sirvo ← cirvo · isrvo · sirbo · sirov · sirrvo · sirvvo · sivro · srivo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sirvió" for "sirvo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([siɾˈβ̞jo] versus [ˈsiɾβ̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sirvió" vs "sirvo" - which ranks higher?
"sirvió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,158 in our Spanish list, against #18,082 for "sirvo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sirvió" 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 #246,713 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sirvió" 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 #246,713 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