Which to use
“dear” and “demi” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,506
- “dear” frequency rank
- #36,873
- “demi” frequency rank
- 67379
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dear | demi |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | lieb, teuer, süß, entzückend, reizend, herzig | halb |
Where the eye mixes dear and demi
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. dear (CVVC) and demi (CVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between dear and demi
A purely visual mix-up. dear ([diɹ]) and demi ([də.mi]) 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 67379, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dear is recorded at frequency rank #30,506, classified as anadj, pronounced [diɹ]. demi is at rank #36,873, tagged as anadj, pronounced [də.mi].
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 67379, this pair ranks #542,071 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dear vs demi
Shared letters: de. Private to "dear": ar. Private to "demi": im.
"dear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "demi" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dear" for "demi" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dear" vs "demi" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "demi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #542,071 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dear" and "demi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "demi vs dess". 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 #542,071 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.