sein vs ship, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#45,601
“sein” frequency rank: #38,970
“ship” frequency rank: 84571
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	sein	ship
Definition	Ser, estar.	Barco.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch

sein

4 ch

ship

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sein is [ˈzaɪ̯n] while ship is /ʃɪp/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84571, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sein is recorded at frequency rank #45,601, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈzaɪ̯n]. ship is at rank #38,970, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ʃɪp/.

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 84571, this pair ranks #6,929 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sein vs ship

Shared letters: is. Private to "sein": en. Private to "ship": hp.

"sein" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "ship" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

sein ← esin · seinn · seni · ssein
ship ← hsip · shhip · shipp · shpi · sihp · sship

Frequency comparison

sein#45,601

ship#38,970

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sein" and "ship" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sein" is a verb and "ship" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "sein" or "ship"?

"ship" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,970 in our Spanish list, against #45,601 for "sein". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering sein vs ship

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “sein”; for a noun, it's “ship”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sein” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable