Which to use
“ears” and “east” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,877
- “ears” frequency rank
- #709
- “east” frequency rank
- 4586
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ears | east |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of ear | The direction of the earth's rotation, specifically 90°. |
Where the eye mixes ears and east
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. ears (/ɪəz/) and east (/iːst/) 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 4586, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ears is recorded at frequency rank #3,877, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɪəz/. east is at rank #709, tagged as anoun, pronounced /iːst/.
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 4586, this pair ranks #518,410 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ears vs east
Shared letters: aes. Private to "ears": r. Private to "east": t.
"ears" · 4 letters · shape VVCC · "east" · 4 letters · shape VVCC