earedvserasedWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“eared” and “erased” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#35,271
“eared” frequency rank
#15,160
“erased” frequency rank
50431
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eared erased
Definition Having ears (of a specified type). Having the appearance of being forcibly torn off, with parts left jagged or uneven, as distinguished from couped.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set eared and erased apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
eared
6 ch
erased

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

eared and erased 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50431, 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/. erased is at rank #15,160, 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 50431, this pair ranks #174,317 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of eared vs erased

Shared letters: ader. Private to "eared": -. Private to "erased": s.

"eared" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC  ·  "erased" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • earedaered · eaerd · earde · earedd · earred · eraed
  • erasedearsed · eraesd · erasde · erasedd · erassed · errased · ersaed · reased

Frequency comparison

eared#35,271
erased#15,160

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "eared" and "erased" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "eared" or "erased"?
"erased" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,160 in our English list, against #35,271 for "eared". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering eared vs erased

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “eared” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list