Which to use
“scout” is a noun and “shut” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,767
- “scout” frequency rank
- #41,005
- “shut” frequency rank
- 62772
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | scout | shut |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Personne qui pratique le scoutisme. | Refermer, fermer ce qui était ouvert, fermer. |
Letter map: scout vs shut
Shared letters muted; letters that set scout and shut apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. scout runs 5 letters (CCVVC) against shut's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: scout vs shut
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: scout is anoun and shutaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62772, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
scout is recorded at frequency rank #21,767, classified as anoun, pronounced \skut\. shut is at rank #41,005, tagged as averb.
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 62772, this pair ranks #85,380 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of scout vs shut
Shared letters: stu. Private to "scout": co. Private to "shut": h.
"scout" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "shut" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "scout" for "shut" ever safe?
Which is more common, "scout" or "shut"?
Useful next steps
You've compared "scout" and "shut". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "scout" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "shut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #85,380 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "scout" and "shut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shut vs suu". 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 #85,380 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.