Which to use
“servir” and “sortir” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,379
- “servir” frequency rank
- #534
- “sortir” frequency rank
- 1913
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | servir | sortir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | S’acquitter de certains offices, de certaines obligations envers une personne ou une collectivité. | Passer du dedans vers le dehors. |
Where the eye mixes servir and sortir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: servir vs sortir
A purely visual mix-up. servir (\sɛʁ.viʁ\) and sortir (\sɔʁ.tiʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1913, 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\. sortir is at rank #534, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɔʁ.tiʁ\.
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 1913, this pair ranks #437,139 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of servir vs sortir
Shared letters: irs. Private to "servir": ev. Private to "sortir": ot.
"servir" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "sortir" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "servir" and "sortir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "servir" or "sortir"?
Useful next steps
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 "sortir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #437,139 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "servir" and "sortir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sortir vs sortiras". 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 #437,139 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.