Which to use
“NEA” is a name and “nears” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,755
- “NEA” frequency rank
- #33,757
- “nears” frequency rank
- 63512
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | NEA | nears |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Initialism of New Enterprise Associates. | third-person singular simple present indicative of near |
Letter map: NEA vs nears
Shared letters muted; letters that set NEA and nears apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. NEA runs 3 letters (CVV) against nears's 5 (CVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Role in the sentence - NEA and nears
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: NEA is aname and nearsaverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “NEA” sits inside “nears”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63512, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
NEA is recorded at frequency rank #29,755, classified as aname. nears is at rank #33,757, tagged as averb, pronounced /nɪə(ɹ)z/.
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 63512, this pair ranks #82,566 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of NEA vs nears
Shared letters: aen. Private to "NEA": -. Private to "nears": rs.
"NEA" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "nears" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- nears ← enars · naers · nearrs · nearss · neasr · neras · nnears
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "NEA" for "nears" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "NEA" or "nears" show up more?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "NEA" and "nears".
- Full dictionary entry for "NEA" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "nears" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #82,566 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "NEA" and "nears" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nears vs Negros". 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 #82,566 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.