Which to use
“dear” is an adjective and “deny” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,753
- “dear” frequency rank
- #4,013
- “deny” frequency rank
- 5766
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dear | deny |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | High in price; expensive. | To disallow or reject. |
Where the eye mixes dear and deny
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dear is /dɪə/ while deny is /dɪˈnaɪ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5766, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dear is recorded at frequency rank #1,753, classified as anadj, pronounced /dɪə/. deny is at rank #4,013, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɪˈnaɪ/.
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 5766, this pair ranks #514,093 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dear vs deny
Shared letters: de. Private to "dear": ar. Private to "deny": ny.
"dear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "deny" · 4 letters · shape CVCV