Which to use
“cleared” is a verb and “clears” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,111
- “cleared” frequency rank
- #13,685
- “clears” frequency rank
- 18796
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cleared | clears |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of clear | A relatively strong, coarse flour that has only been sifted once. |
Letter map: cleared vs clears
Shared letters muted; letters that set cleared and clears apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.
Grammar separator: cleared vs clears
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cleared is averb and clearsanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18796, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cleared is recorded at frequency rank #5,111, classified as averb, pronounced /klɪɹd/. clears is at rank #13,685, tagged as anoun.
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 18796, this pair ranks #442,477 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cleared vs clears
Shared letters: acelr. Private to "cleared": d. Private to "clears": s.
"cleared" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC · "clears" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cleared" and "clears" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "cleared" or "clears"?
Useful next steps
You've compared "cleared" and "clears". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "cleared" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clears" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #442,477 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cleared" and "clears" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cleared vs cleaved". 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 #442,477 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.