Which to use
“eared” and “early” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,271
- “eared” frequency rank
- #354
- “early” frequency rank
- 35625
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | eared | early |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having ears (of a specified type). | At a time in advance of the usual or expected event. |
Letter map: eared vs early
Shared letters muted; letters that set eared and early apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Pair insight - eared / early
eared and early are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35625, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
eared is recorded at frequency rank #35,271, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɪəd/. early is at rank #354, tagged as anadj.
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 35625, this pair ranks #310,375 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of eared vs early
Shared letters: aer. Private to "eared": d. Private to "early": ly.
"eared" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC · "early" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "eared" and "early" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "eared" or "early" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've compared "eared" and "early". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "eared" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "early" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #310,375 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "eared" and "early" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "eared vs easel". 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 #310,375 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.