sermosvsservoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“sermos” and “servo” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,579
“sermos” frequency rank
#10,270
“servo” frequency rank
15849
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sermos servo
Definition primeira pessoa do plural do infinitivo pessoal do verbo ser. tomar conta, guardar.

Where the eye mixes sermos and servo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
sermos
5 ch
servo

Visual trap between sermos and servo

A purely visual mix-up. sermos (/ˈseɾ.mus/) and servo (/ˈser.woː/) 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 15849, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sermos is recorded at frequency rank #5,579, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈseɾ.mus/. servo is at rank #10,270, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈser.woː/.

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 15849, this pair ranks #55,873 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sermos vs servo

Shared letters: eors. Private to "sermos": m. Private to "servo": v.

"sermos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "servo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sermosesrmos · semros · sermmos · sermoss · sermso · seroms · serrmos · sremos
  • servoesrvo · serov · serrvo · servvo · sevro · srevo · sservo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sermos" and "servo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈseɾ.mus/ versus /ˈser.woː/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sermos" vs "servo" - which ranks higher?
"sermos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,579 in our Portuguese list, against #10,270 for "servo". 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 "sermos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "servo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #55,873 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sermos" and "servo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seno vs servo". 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 #55,873 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list