scratches
"scratches" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“scratches” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #16,121 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #16,121
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 15
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - plural of scratch
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | scratches |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #16,121 |
| Misspellings tracked | 15 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “scratches” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for scratches is 9 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #16,121 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "plural of scratch".
Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for scratches, with forms such as "csratches", "scartches", and "sccratches". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 5 confusable-pair relationships, "scratchy", "swatches", "stretches", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From scratch + -es. The correct English form is scratches, spelled S-C-R-A-T-C-H-E-S.
Definition
- 1plural of scratch
Etymology
From scratch + -es.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: csratches,scartches,sccratches,scracthes,scratcches,scratcehs,scratchess,scratchhes,scratchse,scrathces,scrattches,scrratches,scrtaches,srcatches,sscratches
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of scratches - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “scratches”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-C-R-A-T-C-H-E-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “scratchy” - see the side-by-side comparison. scratches vs scratchy
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.