scratchvswindowsConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#43,485
“scratch” frequency rank
#2,937
“windows” frequency rank
46422
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature scratch windows
Definition kratzen Plural des Substantivs window

Letter map: scratch vs windows

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

7 ch
scratch
7 ch
windows

Part-of-speech tell for scratch / windows

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: scratch is averb and windowsanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 7 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46422, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

scratch is recorded at frequency rank #43,485, classified as averb, pronounced […]. windows is at rank #2,937, tagged as anoun, 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 46422, this pair ranks #1,319,635 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of scratch vs windows

Shared letters: s. Private to "scratch": achrt. Private to "windows": dinow.

"scratch" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCC  ·  "windows" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • scratchcsratch · scartch · sccratch · scracth · scratcch · scratchh · scrathc · scrattch
  • windowsiwndows · widnows · winddows · windosw · windowss · windowws · windwos · winndows

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "scratch" for "windows" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "scratch" is a verb and "windows" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "scratch" vs "windows" - which ranks higher?
"windows" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,937 in our German list, against #43,485 for "scratch". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "scratch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "windows" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,319,635 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "scratch" and "windows" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs scratch". 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 #1,319,635 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