Which to use
“servis” is an adjective and “sévir” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,062
- “servis” frequency rank
- #30,832
- “sévir” frequency rank
- 43894
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | servis | sévir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de servi. | Exercer la répression avec rigueur, contre les personnes, leurs actes. |
Where the eye mixes servis and sévir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. servis 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.
Look-alike desk: servis vs sévir
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: servis is \sɛʁ.vi\ while sévir is \se.viʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43894, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
servis is recorded at frequency rank #13,062, classified as anadj, pronounced \sɛʁ.vi\. 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 43894, this pair ranks #214,559 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of servis vs sévir
Shared letters: irsv. Private to "servis": e. Private to "sévir": é.
"servis" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "sévir" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- servis ← esrvis · serivs · serrvis · serviss · servsi · servvis · sevris · srevis
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "servis" for "sévir" ever safe?
Frequency check: "servis" vs "sévir" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "servis" and "sévir" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "servis" 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 #214,559 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "servis" 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 #214,559 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.