"חמישה סכינים וחמש סכינים."

Translation: Five knives and five knives.

[hombresdays]

Can סכינים really take either the feminine or masculine number?

[BarakG2]

yes. not so common. i guess most people just endorse one way and stick to it. i use feminine

[CMcV1]

http://hebrew-academy.org.il/2010/10/05/%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%9D-%D7%94%D7%93%D7%A7%D7%93%D7%95%D7%A7%D7%99-%D7%A9%D7%9C-%D7%A9%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%90%D7%97%D7%93%D7%99%D7%9D/

this is what the acadmey of the hebrew language have to say about nouns that are both masculine and feminin

[luambatista]

תודה רבה אחי

[AmirLFC]

So do I.

[Ducel]

Interesting! Good to know

[senorsmile]

Even though this is implicitly showing that the word סכין can be either masculine or feminine, it's still quite the confusing sentence!