savaisvsservaisWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“savais” and “servais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,836
“savais” frequency rank
#30,367
“servais” frequency rank
32203
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature savais servais
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de savoir. Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de servir.

Where the eye mixes savais and servais

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. savais runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against servais's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
savais
7 ch
servais

Look-alike desk: savais vs servais

A purely visual mix-up. savais (\sa.vɛ\) and servais (\sɛʁ.vɛ\) 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 32203, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

savais is recorded at frequency rank #1,836, classified as averb, pronounced \sa.vɛ\. servais is at rank #30,367, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɛʁ.vɛ\.

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 32203, this pair ranks #298,832 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of savais vs servais

Shared letters: aisv. Private to "savais": -. Private to "servais": er.

"savais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "servais" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • savais ← asvais · saavis · savaiss · savasi · savias · savvais · ssavais · svaais
  • servais ← esrvais · seravis · serrvais · servaiss · servasi · servias · servvais · sevrais

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "savais" and "servais" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\sa.vɛ\ versus \sɛʁ.vɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "savais" vs "servais" - which ranks higher?
"savais" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,836 in our French list, against #30,367 for "servais". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "savais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "servais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #298,832 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "savais" and "servais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "servage vs servais". 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 #298,832 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list