shipvsskinWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,908
“ship” frequency rank
#21,064
“skin” frequency rank
55972
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ship skin
Definition Schiff, Wasserfahrzeug menschliche Haut

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ship and skin apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
ship
4 ch
skin

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. ship ([ʃɪp]) and skin ([skɪn]) 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 55972, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ship is recorded at frequency rank #34,908, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃɪp]. skin is at rank #21,064, tagged as anoun, pronounced [skɪn].

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 55972, this pair ranks #958,561 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ship vs skin

Shared letters: is. Private to "ship": hp. Private to "skin": kn.

"ship" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "skin" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • shiphsip · shhip · shipp · shpi · sihp · sship
  • skinksin · sikn · skinn · skkin · skni · sskin

Frequency comparison

ship#34,908
skin#21,064

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ship" and "skin" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ʃɪp] versus [skɪn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ship" or "skin"?
"skin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,064 in our German list, against #34,908 for "ship". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ship vs skin

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ship” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list