Skip to main content
PlainSpell

Ere or err?

ere is a contraction meaning “A contraction of is, there, and the indefinite article. Mainly used in questions”; err is a verb meaning “To make a mistake”. Use ere as a contraction and err as a verb. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) err is about 1.8 times as common as ere.

ereorerr

What is the difference between ere and err?

ereerr
Part of speechadverb, preposition, conjunction, contraction, interjection, nounverb, interjection, noun
Meaning

IrelandinformalA contraction of is, there, and the indefinite article. Mainly used in questions

To make a mistake

To sin

Elongated form of er (“sound of hesitation”)

Example'Ere bit o' bacon in it, Kathleen?He erred in his calculations, and made many mistakes
Forms'ereerrs, erring, erred
Pronunciation/ɛə/ /ɛː/ /ɛɚ//ɜː/ /ɛɚ/ /ɝ/
In writing1.4 times per million words2.5 times per million words

Sources: ere and err in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Every current meaning of ere and err

ere

  1. 1

    contraction IrelandinformalA contraction of is, there, and the indefinite article. Mainly used in questions

    'Ere bit o' bacon in it, Kathleen?

  2. 2

    adverb UKslangPronunciation spelling of here

  3. 3

    adverb UKslangPronunciation spelling of there

  4. 4

    interjection UKslangContraction of look here, used for emphasis at the beginning of a sentence when expressing an opinion or want

    ’Ere, why don't we get some cigarettes?

  5. 5

    noun Initialism of extended regular expression

err

  1. 1

    verb To make a mistake

    He erred in his calculations, and made many mistakes

  2. 2

    interjection Elongated form of er (“sound of hesitation”)

    Err... what did you just say?

  3. 3

    noun Abbreviation of errors

  4. 4

    verb To sin

    To err is human, to forgive, divine

Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.

Which is more common, ere or err?

ere appears 1.4 times per million words; err 2.5 times per million words.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

The words