Which to use
“scale” is a noun and “shame” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #31,769
- “scale” frequency rank
- #43,491
- “shame” frequency rank
- 75260
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | scale | shame |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Waage | jemanden beschämen |
Letter map: scale vs shame
Shared letters muted; letters that set scale and shame apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. scale and shame follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Role in the sentence - scale and shame
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: scale is anoun and shameaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75260, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
scale is recorded at frequency rank #31,769, classified as anoun, pronounced [skeɪl]. shame is at rank #43,491, 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 75260, this pair ranks #312,453 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of scale vs shame
Shared letters: aes. Private to "scale": cl. Private to "shame": hm.
"scale" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "shame" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "scale" and "shame" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "scale" vs "shame" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pair "scale" vs "shame" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "scale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "shame" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #312,453 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "scale" and "shame" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs shame". 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 #312,453 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.