Which to use
“scaled” and “soiled” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,014
- “scaled” frequency rank
- #30,237
- “soiled” frequency rank
- 44251
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | scaled | soiled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of scale | simple past and past participle of soil |
Where the eye mixes scaled and soiled
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. scaled (CCVCVC) and soiled (CVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses scaled with soiled
A purely visual mix-up. scaled (/skeɪld/) and soiled (/ˈsɔɪld/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44251, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
scaled is recorded at frequency rank #14,014, classified as averb, pronounced /skeɪld/. soiled is at rank #30,237, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈsɔɪld/.
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 44251, this pair ranks #232,356 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of scaled vs soiled
Shared letters: dels. Private to "scaled": ac. Private to "soiled": io.
"scaled" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "soiled" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "scaled" and "soiled" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "scaled" or "soiled" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "scaled" and "soiled" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "scaled" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "soiled" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #232,356 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "scaled" and "soiled" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soiled vs stilted". 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 #232,356 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.