# dear vs dem

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### dear
*adjective · IPA /dɪə/ · frequency rank #1,753*
High in price; expensive.

### dem
*pronoun · IPA /dɛm/ · frequency rank #8,533*
Nonstandard form of them.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-09-03.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dear-vs-dem