Which to use
“dark” and “dear” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #966
- “dark” frequency rank
- #1,753
- “dear” frequency rank
- 2719
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dark | dear |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light. | High in price; expensive. |
Where the eye mixes dark and dear
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. dark (/dɑːk/) and dear (/dɪə/) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2719, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dark is recorded at frequency rank #966, classified as anadj, pronounced /dɑːk/. dear is at rank #1,753, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dɪə/.
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 2719, this pair ranks #524,221 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dark vs dear
Shared letters: adr. Private to "dark": k. Private to "dear": e.
"dark" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "dear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC