Which to use
“ship” and “ski” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,970
- “ship” frequency rank
- #35,760
- “ski” frequency rank
- 74730
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ship | ski |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Barco. | Esquí |
Where the eye mixes ship and ski
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ship with ski
A purely visual mix-up. ship (/ʃɪp/) and ski (/ski/) 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 74730, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ship is recorded at frequency rank #38,970, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʃɪp/. ski is at rank #35,760, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ski/.
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 74730, this pair ranks #20,795 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ship vs ski
Shared letters: is. Private to "ship": hp. Private to "ski": k.
"ship" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "ski" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- ship ← hsip · shhip · shipp · shpi · sihp · sship
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ship" for "ski" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ship" vs "ski" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ship" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ski" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #20,795 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ship" and "ski" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sei vs ship". 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 #20,795 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.