cheeredvsclearedConfusable pair

Which to use

“cheered” and “cleared” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#17,566
“cheered” frequency rank
#5,111
“cleared” frequency rank
22677
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cheered cleared
Definition simple past and past participle of cheer simple past and past participle of clear

Where the eye mixes cheered and cleared

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
cheered
7 ch
cleared

Look-alike desk: cheered vs cleared

A purely visual mix-up. cheered (/t͡ʃɪɹd/) and cleared (/klɪɹd/) 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 22677, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cheered is recorded at frequency rank #17,566, classified as averb, pronounced /t͡ʃɪɹd/. cleared is at rank #5,111, tagged as averb, pronounced /klɪɹd/.

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 22677, this pair ranks #414,831 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cheered vs cleared

Shared letters: cder. Private to "cheered": h. Private to "cleared": al.

"cheered" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "cleared" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cheeredccheered · cehered · cheeerd · cheerde · cheeredd · cheerred · chered · chereed
  • clearedccleared · celared · claered · cleaerd · clearde · clearedd · clearred · cleraed

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cheered" and "cleared" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/t͡ʃɪɹd/ versus /klɪɹd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cheered" or "cleared"?
"cleared" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,111 in our English list, against #17,566 for "cheered". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "cheered" and "cleared" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cheered" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cleared" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #414,831 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cheered" and "cleared" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cheered vs creeped". 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 #414,831 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list