Which to use
“servil” is an adjective and “servo” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,911
- “servil” frequency rank
- #10,270
- “servo” frequency rank
- 49181
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | servil | servo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | bajulador | tomar conta, guardar. |
Where the eye mixes servil and servo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between servil and servo
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: servil is /sɨɾ.ˈviɫ/ while servo is /ˈser.woː/. 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 49181, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
servil is recorded at frequency rank #38,911, classified as anadj, pronounced /sɨɾ.ˈviɫ/. 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 49181, this pair ranks #15,889 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of servil vs servo
Shared letters: ersv. Private to "servil": il. Private to "servo": o.
"servil" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "servo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "servil" for "servo" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "servil" or "servo" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "servil" and "servo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "servil" 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 #15,889 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "servil" and "servo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "serviçal vs servil". 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 #15,889 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.