Which to use
“paltry” and “pasty” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,625
- “paltry” frequency rank
- #33,783
- “pasty” frequency rank
- 68408
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paltry | pasty |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Trashy, trivial, of little value. | Like paste, sticky. |
Where the eye mixes paltry and pasty
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. paltry runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against pasty's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between paltry and pasty
A purely visual mix-up. paltry (/ˈpɒltɹi/) and pasty (/ˈpeɪsti/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68408, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paltry is recorded at frequency rank #34,625, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈpɒltɹi/. pasty is at rank #33,783, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈpeɪsti/.
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 68408, this pair ranks #59,003 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of paltry vs pasty
Shared letters: apty. Private to "paltry": lr. Private to "pasty": s.
"paltry" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "pasty" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "paltry" and "pasty" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "paltry" vs "pasty" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "paltry" and "pasty" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "paltry" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pasty" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #59,003 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paltry" and "pasty" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pappy vs pasty". 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 #59,003 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.