sirvovssurcoWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#18,082
“sirvo” frequency rank
#24,664
“surco” frequency rank
42746
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sirvo surco
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de servir. Franja de tierra hendida por el arado.

Where the eye mixes sirvo and surco

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. sirvo and surco follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
sirvo
5 ch
surco

Look-alike desk: sirvo vs surco

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sirvo is [ˈsiɾβ̞o] while surco is [ˈsuɾko]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42746, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sirvo is recorded at frequency rank #18,082, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈsiɾβ̞o]. surco is at rank #24,664, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈsuɾko].

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 42746, this pair ranks #146,519 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sirvo vs surco

Shared letters: ors. Private to "sirvo": iv. Private to "surco": cu.

"sirvo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "surco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sirvo ← cirvo · isrvo · sirbo · sirov · sirrvo · sirvvo · sivro · srivo
  • surco ← sruco · ssurco · sucro · surcco · suroc · surrco · usrco

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sirvo" for "surco" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sirvo" is a verb and "surco" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sirvo" vs "surco" - which ranks higher?
"sirvo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,082 in our Spanish list, against #24,664 for "surco". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sirvo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "surco" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #146,519 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sirvo" and "surco" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sarro vs surco". 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 #146,519 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