Which to use
“serviçal” is an adjective and “servidão” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #47,086
- “serviçal” frequency rank
- #20,719
- “servidão” frequency rank
- 67805
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | serviçal | servidão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | prestável | condição de servo |
Where the eye mixes serviçal and servidão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. serviçal (CVCCVCVC) and servidão (CVCCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses serviçal with servidão
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: serviçal is /sɨɾ.vi.ˈsaɫ/ while servidão is /sɨɾ.vi.ˈdɐ̃w̃/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67805, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
serviçal is recorded at frequency rank #47,086, classified as anadj, pronounced /sɨɾ.vi.ˈsaɫ/. servidão is at rank #20,719, tagged as anoun, pronounced /sɨɾ.vi.ˈdɐ̃w̃/.
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 67805, this pair ranks #4,489 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of serviçal vs servidão
Shared letters: eirsv. Private to "serviçal": alç. Private to "servidão": doã.
"serviçal" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "servidão" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "serviçal" and "servidão" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "serviçal" or "servidão" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "serviçal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "servidão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #4,489 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "serviçal" and "servidão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "serviçal vs servil". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #4,489 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.