Which to use
“scan” and “sein” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,267
- “scan” frequency rank
- #746
- “sein” frequency rank
- 18013
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | scan | sein |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Scanner, examen radiologique. | Partie antérieure du thorax humain, où se trouvent les mamelles. |
Where the eye mixes scan and sein
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between scan and sein
A purely visual mix-up. scan (\skan\) and sein (\sɛ̃\) 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 18013, 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\. sein is at rank #746, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɛ̃\.
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 18013, this pair ranks #380,396 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of scan vs sein
Shared letters: ns. Private to "scan": ac. Private to "sein": ei.
"scan" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "sein" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "scan" and "sein" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "scan" vs "sein" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "scan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sein" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #380,396 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "scan" and "sein" 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 #380,396 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.