ScannervsSpinnerTell them apart

Which to use

“Scanner” and “Spinner” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#15,741
“Scanner” frequency rank
#9,097
“Spinner” frequency rank
24838
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Scanner Spinner
Definition Gerät zur berührungslosen digitalen Datenerfassung Person, die das Spinnen betreibt, in einer Spinnerei arbeitet, Garn herstellt

Where the eye mixes Scanner and Spinner

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
Scanner
7 ch
Spinner

Visual trap between Scanner and Spinner

A purely visual mix-up. Scanner ([ˈskɛnɐ]) and Spinner ([ˈʃpɪnɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24838, 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]. Spinner is at rank #9,097, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃpɪnɐ].

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 24838, this pair ranks #1,841,953 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Scanner vs Spinner

Shared letters: enrs. Private to "Scanner": ac. Private to "Spinner": ip.

"Scanner" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "Spinner" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Scannercsanner · sacnner · scanenr · scaner · scannerr · scannre · sccanner · scnaner
  • Spinnerpsinner · sipnner · spinenr · spiner · spinnerr · spinnre · spniner · sppinner

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Scanner" and "Spinner" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈskɛnɐ] versus [ˈʃpɪnɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Scanner" vs "Spinner" - which ranks higher?
"Spinner" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,097 in our German list, against #15,741 for "Scanner". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Scanner" and "Spinner" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Scanner" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Spinner" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,841,953 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Scanner" and "Spinner" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Scanner vs Schoner". 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 #1,841,953 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list