dear

[diɹ]

/[diɹ]/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“dear” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #30,506) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#30,506
frequency rank, German
2,764
“D” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - lieb, teuer, süß, entzückend, reizend, herzig

Corpus desk

Index DE-dear · dear · German

dear · rank #30,506 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #30,506
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,764
  • PHOTO-FINISH Deadline

Nearest frequency peer: Deadline (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Häufigkeitsnachbarn des Verwechslers „dear“

Peers mit ähnlichem Corpus-Gewicht, getrennt von den Verwechslungspaaren unten

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „dear“ gegen die nächsten gerankten deutschen Lemmata, kein Reprint der Verwechslungsdesk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

dear vs der
75% similar
dear vs den
50% similar
dear vs dem
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for dear
PropertyValue
Headworddear
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[diɹ]
Letters4
Frequency rank#30,506
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „dear“

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.dearliegt auf dieser Marke:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „Deadline“ (#30,505), „Decks“ (#30,507), „dasteht“ (#30,504). Unter 2,764 „D“-Lemmata liegt „dear“ bei #30,506. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for dear is neighbouring look-alikes ("der", "den", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced [diɹ]. Frequency #30,506 among 2,764 “D” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for dear, with forms such as "ddear", "dearr", and "dera". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "der", "den", "dem", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is dear, spelled D-E-A-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    lieb, teuer, süß, entzückend, reizend, herzig
  2. 2
    Liebe(r) …, Sehr geehrte(r) …

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how dear appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. She is a dear friend of mine.
  2. Dear Mr Jones, …

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ddear
  • dearr
  • dera
  • edar

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of dear - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

ddear1dearr1dera2edar2
Edit distance from "dear"

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 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "dear"?
"dear" is spelled D-E-A-R. The IPA pronunciation is [diɹ].
What does "dear" mean?
As an adjective, "dear" means: lieb, teuer, süß, entzückend, reizend, herzig
What words are commonly confused with "dear"?
"dear" is commonly confused with "der", "den", "dem". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "dear"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "dear" is [diɹ]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "dear" come from?
"dear" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dear", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

como#30,500Bong#30,487Feen#30,551Garn#30,564

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list