Which to use
“Scanner” is a noun and “spannen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,741
- “Scanner” frequency rank
- #19,042
- “spannen” frequency rank
- 34783
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Scanner | spannen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Gerät zur berührungslosen digitalen Datenerfassung | etwas mit Kraftaufwand glatt machen |
Where the eye mixes Scanner and spannen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Scanner and spannen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between Scanner and spannen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Scanner is [ˈskɛnɐ] while spannen is [ˈʃpanən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34783, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Scanner is recorded at frequency rank #15,741, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈskɛnɐ]. spannen is at rank #19,042, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃpanən].
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 34783, this pair ranks #1,655,379 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Scanner vs spannen
Shared letters: aens. Private to "Scanner": cr. Private to "spannen": p.
"Scanner" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "spannen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Scanner" and "spannen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "Scanner" or "spannen"?
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 "Scanner" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spannen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,655,379 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Scanner" and "spannen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Spange vs spannen". 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 #1,655,379 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.