scansvsskinsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: scans is a verb, skins is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“scans” is a verb and “skins” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,182
“scans” frequency rank
#33,820
“skins” frequency rank
71002
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature scans skins
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs scan Plural des Substantivs skin

Letter map: scans vs skins

Shared letters muted; letters that set scans and skins apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
scans
5 ch
skins

Grammar separator: scans vs skins

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: scans is averb and skinsanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71002, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

scans is recorded at frequency rank #37,182, classified as averb, pronounced […]. skins is at rank #33,820, tagged as anoun, pronounced [skɪnz].

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 71002, this pair ranks #429,524 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of scans vs skins

Shared letters: ns. Private to "scans": ac. Private to "skins": ik.

"scans" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "skins" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • scanscsans · sacns · scanns · scanss · scasn · sccans · scnas · sscans
  • skinsksins · sikns · skinns · skinss · skisn · skkins · sknis · sskins

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "scans" and "skins" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "scans" is a verb and "skins" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "scans" or "skins" show up more?
"skins" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,820 in our German list, against #37,182 for "scans". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "scans" and "skins". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "scans" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "skins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #429,524 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "scans" and "skins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs scans". 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 #429,524 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