Which to use
“scuttle” and “shuttle” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #42,399
- “scuttle” frequency rank
- #8,349
- “shuttle” frequency rank
- 50748
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | scuttle | shuttle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A container like an open bucket (usually to hold and carry coal). | A tool used to carry the woof back and forth between the warp threads on a loom. |
Where the eye mixes scuttle and shuttle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: scuttle vs shuttle
A purely visual mix-up. scuttle (/ˈskʌt.l̩/) and shuttle (/ˈʃʌtəl/) 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 a single letter - c in “scuttle” becomes h in “shuttle”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50748, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
scuttle is recorded at frequency rank #42,399, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈskʌt.l̩/. shuttle is at rank #8,349, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈʃʌtəl/.
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 50748, this pair ranks #171,501 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of scuttle vs shuttle
Shared letters: elstu. Private to "scuttle": c. Private to "shuttle": h.
"scuttle" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCCV · "shuttle" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "scuttle" and "shuttle" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "scuttle" or "shuttle" 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 "scuttle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "shuttle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #171,501 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "scuttle" and "shuttle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "scuffle vs scuttle". 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 #171,501 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.