diff --git a/src/scanpy/preprocessing/_scale.py b/src/scanpy/preprocessing/_scale.py
index 07f55089c3..99ef971eb2 100644
--- a/src/scanpy/preprocessing/_scale.py
+++ b/src/scanpy/preprocessing/_scale.py
@@ -30,6 +30,10 @@
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from numpy.typing import ArrayLike, NDArray
+    from numpy.typing import NDArray
+    from scipy import sparse as sp
+
+    CSMatrix = sp.csr_matrix | sp.csc_matrix
 
     CSMatrix = csr_matrix | csc_matrix
 
@@ -75,6 +79,14 @@ def clip_array(
     return X
 
 
+def clip_set(x: CSMatrix, *, max_value: float, zero_center: bool = True) -> CSMatrix:
+    x = x.copy()
+    x[x > max_value] = max_value
+    if zero_center:
+        x[x < -max_value] = -max_value
+    return x
+
+
 @renamed_arg("X", "data", pos_0=True)
 @old_positionals("zero_center", "max_value", "copy", "layer", "obsm")
 @singledispatch