serfsvssersConfusable pair

Quick tell: serfs is a adjective, sers is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“serfs” is an adjective and “sers” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,042
“serfs” frequency rank
#9,390
“sers” frequency rank
47432
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature serfs sers
Definition Masculin pluriel de serf. Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de servir.

Same sound, different letters: serfs vs sers

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters.

5 ch
serfs
4 ch
sers

Ear matches; page differs - serfs and sers

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: serfs and sers carry the same recorded pronunciation, \sɛʁ\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47432, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

serfs is recorded at frequency rank #38,042, classified as anadj, pronounced \sɛʁ\. sers is at rank #9,390, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɛʁ\.

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 47432, this pair ranks #186,996 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of serfs vs sers

Shared letters: ers. Private to "serfs": f. Private to "sers": -.

"serfs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "sers" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • serfsesrfs · sefrs · serffs · serfss · serrfs · sersf · srefs · sserfs
  • sersesrs · serrs · serss · sesr · sres · ssers

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "serfs" and "sers" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "serfs" is an adjective and "sers" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "serfs" or "sers" show up more?
"sers" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,390 in our French list, against #38,042 for "serfs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "serfs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #186,996 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "serfs" and "sers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "serfs vs sires". 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 #186,996 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