Which to use
“sers” is a verb and “soeurs” is a typographic variant - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,390
- “sers” frequency rank
- #6,890
- “soeurs” frequency rank
- 16280
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sers | soeurs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de servir. | Pluriel de soeur ; variante par contrainte typographique de sœurs. |
Where the eye mixes sers and soeurs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between sers and soeurs
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sers is \sɛʁ\ while soeurs is \sœʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs typographic variant), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16280, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sers is recorded at frequency rank #9,390, classified as averb, pronounced \sɛʁ\. soeurs is at rank #6,890, tagged as atypographic variant, pronounced \sœʁ\.
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 16280, this pair ranks #388,549 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sers vs soeurs
Shared letters: ers. Private to "sers": -. Private to "soeurs": ou.
"sers" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "soeurs" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sers" and "soeurs" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "sers" or "soeurs"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sers" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "soeurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #388,549 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sers" and "soeurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sepp vs sers". 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 #388,549 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.