seivsserviWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#36,154
“sei” frequency rank
#2,494
“servi” frequency rank
38648
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sei servi
Definition Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de sein. Participe passé masculin singulier de servir.

Where the eye mixes sei and servi

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

3 ch
sei
5 ch
servi

Look-alike desk: sei vs servi

A purely visual mix-up. sei (\zaɪ̯\) and servi (\sɛʁ.vi\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38648, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sei is recorded at frequency rank #36,154, classified as averb, pronounced \zaɪ̯\. servi is at rank #2,494, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɛʁ.vi\.

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 38648, this pair ranks #253,808 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sei vs servi

Shared letters: eis. Private to "sei": -. Private to "servi": rv.

"sei" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "servi" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • serviesrvi · seriv · serrvi · servvi · sevri · srevi · sservi

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sei" for "servi" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\zaɪ̯\ versus \sɛʁ.vi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sei" vs "servi" - which ranks higher?
"servi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,494 in our French list, against #36,154 for "sei". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sei" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "servi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #253,808 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sei" and "servi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sei vs suu". 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 #253,808 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