Which to use
“scan” and “sea” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,267
- “scan” frequency rank
- #13,258
- “sea” frequency rank
- 30525
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | scan | sea |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Scanner, examen radiologique. | Mer. |
Where the eye mixes scan and sea
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between scan and sea
A purely visual mix-up. scan (\skan\) and sea (\siː\) 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 30525, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
scan is recorded at frequency rank #17,267, classified as anoun, pronounced \skan\. sea is at rank #13,258, tagged as anoun, pronounced \siː\.
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 30525, this pair ranks #309,719 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of scan vs sea
Shared letters: as. Private to "scan": cn. Private to "sea": e.
"scan" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "sea" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- scan ← csan · sacn · scann · sccan · scna · sscan
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "scan" and "sea" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "scan" or "sea"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "scan" and "sea" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "scan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sea" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #309,719 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "scan" and "sea" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "scan vs sicav". 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 #309,719 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.