Which to use
“scale” and “shake” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,661
- “scale” frequency rank
- #24,775
- “shake” frequency rank
- 68436
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | scale | shake |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de scaler. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de shaker. |
Where the eye mixes scale and shake
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. scale and shake follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses scale with shake
A purely visual mix-up. scale (\skal\) and shake (\ʃɛk\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68436, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
scale is recorded at frequency rank #43,661, classified as averb, pronounced \skal\. shake is at rank #24,775, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʃɛk\.
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 68436, this pair ranks #59,205 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of scale vs shake
Shared letters: aes. Private to "scale": cl. Private to "shake": hk.
"scale" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "shake" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "scale" and "shake" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "scale" vs "shake" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "scale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "shake" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #59,205 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "scale" and "shake" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "scale vs stase". 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 #59,205 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.