serrévsserviWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#6,555
“serré” frequency rank
#2,494
“servi” frequency rank
9049
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature serré servi
Definition Très ajusté, étreint, pressé. Participe passé masculin singulier de servir.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set serré and servi apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
serré
5 ch
servi

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

serré and servi form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9049, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

serré is recorded at frequency rank #6,555, classified as anadj, pronounced \se.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 9049, this pair ranks #417,970 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

serré#6,555
servi#2,494

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "serré" and "servi" be used interchangeably?
No, "serré" and "servi" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering serré vs servi

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “serré”; for a verb, it's “servi”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “serré” 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