Which to use
“scratched” is an adjective and “scratches” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,266
- “scratched” frequency rank
- #16,121
- “scratches” frequency rank
- 31387
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | scratched | scratches |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Produced by scratching. | plural of scratch |
Letter map: scratched vs scratches
Shared letters muted; letters that set scratched and scratches apart highlighted. Shared run: 8. scratched and scratches follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCCVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Part-of-speech tell for scratched / scratches
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: scratched is anadjective and scratchesanoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - d in “scratched” becomes s in “scratches”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31387, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
scratched is recorded at frequency rank #15,266, classified as anadj, pronounced /skɹæt͡ʃt/. scratches is at rank #16,121, 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 31387, this pair ranks #346,579 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of scratched vs scratches
Shared letters: acehrst. Private to "scratched": d. Private to "scratches": -.
"scratched" · 9 letters · shape CCCVCCCVC · "scratches" · 9 letters · shape CCCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "scratched" and "scratches" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "scratched" vs "scratches" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
You've compared "scratched" and "scratches". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "scratched" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "scratches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #346,579 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "scratched" and "scratches" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "scratches vs swatches". 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 #346,579 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.