servivsservirWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,494
“servi” frequency rank
#1,379
“servir” frequency rank
3873
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature servi servir
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier de servir. S’acquitter de certains offices, de certaines obligations envers une personne ou une collectivité.

Where the eye mixes servi and servir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
servi
6 ch
servir

Why the eye confuses servi with servir

A purely visual mix-up. servi (\sɛʁ.vi\) and servir (\sɛʁ.viʁ\) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “servi” sits inside “servir”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3873, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

servi is recorded at frequency rank #2,494, classified as averb, pronounced \sɛʁ.vi\. servir is at rank #1,379, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɛʁ.viʁ\.

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 3873, this pair ranks #433,000 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of servi vs servir

Shared letters: eirsv. Private to "servi": -. Private to "servir": -.

"servi" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "servir" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • serviesrvi · seriv · serrvi · servvi · sevri · srevi · sservi
  • serviresrvir · serivr · serrvir · servirr · servri · servvir · sevrir · srevir

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "servi" and "servir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\sɛʁ.vi\ versus \sɛʁ.viʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "servi" or "servir" show up more?
"servir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,379 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.

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 "servi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "servir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #433,000 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "servi" and "servir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "servi vs servile". 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 #433,000 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