Which to use
“dear” and “dour” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,753
- “dear” frequency rank
- #49,880
- “dour” frequency rank
- 51633
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dear | dour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | High in price; expensive. | Stern, harsh and forbidding. |
Where the eye mixes dear and dour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. dear and dour follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses dear with dour
A purely visual mix-up. dear (/dɪə/) and dour (/ˈdʊə/) 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 51633, 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/. dour is at rank #49,880, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈdʊə/.
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 51633, this pair ranks #163,850 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dear vs dour
Shared letters: dr. Private to "dear": ae. Private to "dour": ou.
"dear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "dour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dear" and "dour" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "dear" or "dour"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #163,850 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dear" and "dour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dour vs dox". 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 #163,850 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.