sermentsvsservantsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: serments is a noun, servants is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“serments” is a noun and “servants” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,531
“serments” frequency rank
#44,185
“servants” frequency rank
83716
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature serments servants
Definition Pluriel de serment. Masculin pluriel de servant.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set serments and servants apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
serments
8 ch
servants

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: serments is \sɛʁ.mɑ̃\ while servants is \sɛʁ.vɑ̃\. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83716, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

serments is recorded at frequency rank #39,531, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛʁ.mɑ̃\. servants is at rank #44,185, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɛʁ.vɑ̃\.

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 83716, this pair ranks #14,318 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of serments vs servants

Shared letters: enrst. Private to "serments": m. Private to "servants": av.

"serments" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCC  ·  "servants" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sermentsesrments · semrents · seremnts · sermennts · sermenst · sermentss · sermentts · sermetns
  • servantsesrvants · seravnts · serrvants · servannts · servanst · servantss · servantts · servatns

Frequency comparison

serments#39,531
servants#44,185

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "serments" and "servants" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "serments" is a noun and "servants" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "serments" or "servants"?
"serments" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,531 in our French list, against #44,185 for "servants". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering serments vs servants

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “serments”; for an adjective, it's “servants”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “serments” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list