Which to use
“scold” and “sod” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,752
- “scold” frequency rank
- #21,072
- “sod” frequency rank
- 57824
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | scold | sod |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A person who habitually scolds, in particular a troublesome and angry woman. | The stratum of the surface of the soil which is filled with the roots of grass, or any portion of that surface; turf; sward. |
Where the eye mixes scold and sod
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. scold runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against sod's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between scold and sod
A purely visual mix-up. scold (/skəʊld/) and sod (/sɒd/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57824, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
scold is recorded at frequency rank #36,752, classified as anoun, pronounced /skəʊld/. sod is at rank #21,072, tagged as anoun, pronounced /sɒd/.
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 57824, this pair ranks #116,683 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of scold vs sod
Shared letters: dos. Private to "scold": cl. Private to "sod": -.
"scold" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "sod" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- scold ← csold · sccold · sclod · scodl · scoldd · scolld · socld · sscold
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "scold" for "sod" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "scold" or "sod" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "scold" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sod" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #116,683 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "scold" and "sod" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "scold vs sola". 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 #116,683 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.