Which to use
“servir” and “sévir” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,379
- “servir” frequency rank
- #30,832
- “sévir” frequency rank
- 32211
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | servir | sévir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | S’acquitter de certains offices, de certaines obligations envers une personne ou une collectivité. | Exercer la répression avec rigueur, contre les personnes, leurs actes. |
Where the eye mixes servir and sévir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. servir runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against sévir's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between servir and sévir
A purely visual mix-up. servir (\sɛʁ.viʁ\) and sévir (\se.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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32211, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
servir is recorded at frequency rank #1,379, classified as averb, pronounced \sɛʁ.viʁ\. sévir is at rank #30,832, tagged as averb, pronounced \se.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 32211, this pair ranks #298,772 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of servir vs sévir
Shared letters: irsv. Private to "servir": e. Private to "sévir": é.
"servir" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "sévir" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- servir ← esrvir · serivr · serrvir · servirr · servri · servvir · sevrir · srevir
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "servir" and "sévir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "servir" vs "sévir" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "servir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sévir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #298,772 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "servir" and "sévir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Selim vs sévir". 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 #298,772 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.