PauvsscratchConfusable pair

Quick tell: Pau is a name, scratch is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Pau” is a name and “scratch” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,946
“Pau” frequency rank
#43,485
“scratch” frequency rank
93431
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Pau scratch
Definition Stadt in Südfrankreich kratzen

Letter map: Pau vs scratch

Shared letters muted; letters that set Pau and scratch apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
Pau
7 ch
scratch

Role in the sentence - Pau and scratch

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Pau is aname and scratchaverb. On the page they differ by 4 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 93431, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Pau is recorded at frequency rank #49,946, classified as aname, pronounced […]. scratch is at rank #43,485, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 93431, this pair ranks #22,870 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Pau vs scratch

Shared letters: a. Private to "Pau": pu. Private to "scratch": chrst.

"Pau" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "scratch" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • scratchcsratch · scartch · sccratch · scracth · scratcch · scratchh · scrathc · scrattch

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Pau" and "scratch" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Pau" is a name and "scratch" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Pau" or "scratch"?
"scratch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #43,485 in our German list, against #49,946 for "Pau". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "Pau" vs "scratch" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Pau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "scratch" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,870 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Pau" and "scratch" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Pau vs puzzles". 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 #22,870 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list