English homophones
er/err
"er" is an intj; "err" is a verb - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Grammar picks the spelling
Same sound, different grammar: "er" arrives as an intj, while "err" is a verb. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "er" then splits - "er" (2 letters) vs "err" (3).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across er, err: er. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
er
2 letters · 1 vowels · shape VC
Inventory er · no private letters vs siblings
err
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape VCC
Inventory er · no private letters vs siblings
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "er" when you mean: Said when hesitating in speech.
- Write "err" when you mean: To make a mistake.
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (er, err). Here's where to go from here.
- "er" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #4,756 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: m · em. Nearby cluster
- Grammar often disambiguates this cluster, match the meaning to the part of speech before picking a spelling. Pick by meaning
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.