seraivsserviConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#2,250
“serai” frequency rank
#2,494
“servi” frequency rank
4744
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature serai servi
Definition Première personne du singulier du futur simple du verbe être. Participe passé masculin singulier de servir.

Where the eye mixes serai and servi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
serai
5 ch
servi

Why the eye confuses serai with servi

A purely visual mix-up. serai (\sə.ʁe\) 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 a single letter - a in “serai” becomes v in “servi”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4744, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

serai is recorded at frequency rank #2,250, classified as averb, pronounced \sə.ʁe\. 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 4744, this pair ranks #430,806 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of serai vs servi

Shared letters: eirs. Private to "serai": a. Private to "servi": v.

"serai" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "servi" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • seraiesrai · seari · seria · serrai · sreai · sserai
  • serviesrvi · seriv · serrvi · servvi · sevri · srevi · sservi

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "serai" and "servi" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\sə.ʁe\ versus \sɛʁ.vi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "serai" or "servi"?
"serai" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,250 in our French list, against #2,494 for "servi". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "serai" 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 #430,806 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "serai" and "servi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "serai vs strat". 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 #430,806 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