Which to use
“skin” and “Spion” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,064
- “skin” frequency rank
- #18,070
- “Spion” frequency rank
- 39134
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | skin | Spion |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | menschliche Haut | ein heimlicher, unerkannter Beobachter, der die gegnerische Seite auszukunden hat |
Where the eye mixes skin and Spion
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses skin with Spion
A purely visual mix-up. skin ([skɪn]) and Spion ([ʃpiˈoːn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39134, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
skin is recorded at frequency rank #21,064, classified as anoun, pronounced [skɪn]. Spion is at rank #18,070, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃpiˈoːn].
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 39134, this pair ranks #1,545,198 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of skin vs Spion
Shared letters: ins. Private to "skin": k. Private to "Spion": op.
"skin" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "Spion" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "skin" and "Spion" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "skin" or "Spion"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "skin" and "Spion" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "skin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Spion" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,545,198 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "skin" and "Spion" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sil vs skin". 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 #1,545,198 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.