seven vs sévi, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“seven” is a noun and “sévi” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,094
“seven” frequency rank: #42,643
“sévi” frequency rank: 64737
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	seven	sévi
Definition	(radiotéléphonie) Mot de code radiotéléphonique de l'OACI, OTAN et SIA pour le chiffre 7.	Participe passé masculin singulier de sévir.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set seven and sévi apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

seven

4 ch

sévi

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: seven is \ˈsɛv.n\ while sévi is \se.vi\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64737, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

seven is recorded at frequency rank #22,094, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈsɛv.n\. sévi is at rank #42,643, tagged as averb, pronounced \se.vi\.

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 64737, this pair ranks #75,585 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of seven vs sévi

Shared letters: sv. Private to "seven": en. Private to "sévi": ié.

"seven" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "sévi" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

seven ← esven · seevn · sevenn · sevne · sevven · sseven · sveen

Frequency comparison

seven#22,094

sévi#42,643

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "seven" and "sévi" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "seven" is a noun and "sévi" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "seven" or "sévi"?

"seven" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,094 in our French list, against #42,643 for "sévi". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering seven vs sévi

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “seven”; for a verb, it's “sévi”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “seven” entry
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