Which to use
“scans” and “shan” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,269
- “scans” frequency rank
- #36,590
- “shan” frequency rank
- 71859
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | scans | shan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de scan. | Langue de la famille tai-kadai parlée en Birmanie, en Chine et en Thaïlande par les Shans. |
Where the eye mixes scans and shan
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. scans runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against shan's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: scans vs shan
A purely visual mix-up. scans (\skan\) and shan (\ʃan\) 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 71859, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
scans is recorded at frequency rank #35,269, classified as anoun, pronounced \skan\. shan is at rank #36,590, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃan\.
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 71859, this pair ranks #46,021 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of scans vs shan
Shared letters: ans. Private to "scans": c. Private to "shan": h.
"scans" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "shan" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "scans" and "shan" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "scans" vs "shan" - 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 "scans" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "shan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #46,021 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "scans" and "shan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "scans vs seals". 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 #46,021 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.