Which to use
“ski” and “skin” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,135
- “ski” frequency rank
- #18,716
- “skin” frequency rank
- 38851
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ski | skin |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | esqui | pele |
Where the eye mixes ski and skin
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ski with skin
A purely visual mix-up. ski (/ski/, SAMPA: /ski/) and skin (/ˈskin/) 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 extra letter(s) - “ski” sits inside “skin”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38851, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ski is recorded at frequency rank #20,135, classified as anoun, pronounced /ski/, SAMPA: /ski/. skin is at rank #18,716, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈskin/.
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 38851, this pair ranks #27,529 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ski vs skin
Shared letters: iks. Private to "ski": -. Private to "skin": n.
"ski" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "skin" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- skin ← ksin · sikn · skinn · skkin · skni · sskin
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ski" for "skin" ever safe?
Which is more common, "ski" or "skin"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ski" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "skin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #27,529 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ski" and "skin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sau vs ski". 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 #27,529 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.