Which to use
“scans” is a verb and “seins” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,182
- “scans” frequency rank
- #15,475
- “seins” frequency rank
- 52657
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | scans | seins |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs scan | Nominativ Singular Neutrum bei nicht attributivem Gebrauch des Possessivpronomens sein |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set scans and seins apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
scans and seins form a confusable pair in the German index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52657, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
scans is recorded at frequency rank #37,182, classified as averb, pronounced […]. seins is at rank #15,475, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [zaɪ̯ns].
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 52657, this pair ranks #1,088,337 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "scans" and "seins" be used interchangeably?
Remembering scans vs seins
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “scans”; for an unknown, it's “seins”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “scans” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable