Which to use
“aired” and “are” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,886
- “aired” frequency rank
- #19
- “are” frequency rank
- 8905
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | aired | are |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of air | second-person singular simple present of be |
Where the eye mixes aired and are
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between aired and are
A purely visual mix-up. aired (/ɛəd/) and are (/ə(ɹ)/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8905, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
aired is recorded at frequency rank #8,886, classified as averb, pronounced /ɛəd/. are is at rank #19, tagged as averb, pronounced /ə(ɹ)/.
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 8905, this pair ranks #500,105 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of aired vs are
Shared letters: aer. Private to "aired": di. Private to "are": -.
"aired" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC · "are" · 3 letters · shape VCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- aired ← aierd · airde · airedd · airred · aried · iared
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "aired" for "are" ever safe?
Frequency check: "aired" vs "are" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "aired" and "are" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "aired" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "are" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #500,105 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "aired" and "are" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aced vs aired". 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 #500,105 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.