Which to use
“scorned” is an adjective and “scoured” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,275
- “scorned” frequency rank
- #35,066
- “scoured” frequency rank
- 69341
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | scorned | scoured |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Hated, despised, or avoided. | Wool that has undergone scouring to remove grease. |
Letter map: scorned vs scoured
Shared letters muted; letters that set scorned and scoured apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.
Role in the sentence - scorned and scoured
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: scorned is anadjective and scouredanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69341, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
scorned is recorded at frequency rank #34,275, classified as anadj, pronounced /skɔɹnd/. scoured is at rank #35,066, tagged as anoun.
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 69341, this pair ranks #54,993 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of scorned vs scoured
Shared letters: cdeors. Private to "scorned": n. Private to "scoured": u.
"scorned" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "scoured" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "scorned" and "scoured" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "scorned" vs "scoured" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've compared "scorned" and "scoured". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "scorned" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "scoured" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #54,993 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "scorned" and "scoured" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "scorned vs shorted". 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 #54,993 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.