Which to use
“near” and “new” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #514
- “near” frequency rank
- #65
- “new” frequency rank
- 579
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | near | new |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Physically close. | Recently made, or created. |
Where the eye mixes near and new
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses near with new
A purely visual mix-up. near (/nɪə/) and new (/njuː/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 579, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
near is recorded at frequency rank #514, classified as anadj, pronounced /nɪə/. new is at rank #65, tagged as anadj, pronounced /njuː/.
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 579, this pair ranks #529,171 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of near vs new
Shared letters: en. Private to "near": ar. Private to "new": w.
"near" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "new" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- near ← enar · naer · nearr · nera · nnear
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "near" for "new" ever safe?
Which is more common, "near" or "new"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "near" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "new" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #529,171 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "near" and "new" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "new vs NPL". 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 #529,171 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.