scannervsstagnerTell them apart

Which to use

“scanner” and “stagner” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,255
“scanner” frequency rank
#36,165
“stagner” frequency rank
48420
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature scanner stagner
Definition Analyser automatiquement un document, un objet, ou un environnement pour le transformer en fichier numérique. Pour un liquide, ne pas bouger, rester inerte.

Where the eye mixes scanner and stagner

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
scanner
7 ch
stagner

Why the eye confuses scanner with stagner

A purely visual mix-up. scanner (\ska.ne\) and stagner (\staɡ.ne\) 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 48420, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

scanner is recorded at frequency rank #12,255, classified as averb, pronounced \ska.ne\. stagner is at rank #36,165, tagged as averb, pronounced \staɡ.ne\.

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 48420, this pair ranks #179,092 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of scanner vs stagner

Shared letters: aenrs. Private to "scanner": c. Private to "stagner": gt.

"scanner" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "stagner" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • scannercsanner · sacnner · scanenr · scaner · scannerr · scannre · sccanner · scnaner
  • stagnersatgner · sstagner · stagenr · staggner · stagnerr · stagnner · stagnre · stanger

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "scanner" for "stagner" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ska.ne\ versus \staɡ.ne\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "scanner" or "stagner" show up more?
"scanner" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,255 in our French list, against #36,165 for "stagner". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "scanner" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stagner" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #179,092 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "scanner" and "stagner" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stagner vs stoner". 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 #179,092 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list