Which to use
“scan” and “soin” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,267
- “scan” frequency rank
- #1,681
- “soin” frequency rank
- 18948
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | scan | soin |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Scanner, examen radiologique. | Application d’esprit à faire quelque chose ; attention à veiller au bon état de quelque chose, au bien de quelqu’un. |
Where the eye mixes scan and soin
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses scan with soin
A purely visual mix-up. scan (\skan\) and soin (\swɛ̃\) 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 18948, 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\. soin is at rank #1,681, tagged as anoun, pronounced \swɛ̃\.
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 18948, this pair ranks #375,776 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of scan vs soin
Shared letters: ns. Private to "scan": ac. Private to "soin": io.
"scan" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "soin" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "scan" and "soin" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "scan" or "soin"?
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 "soin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #375,776 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "scan" and "soin" 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 #375,776 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.