Which to use
“nears” is a verb and “neath” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,757
- “nears” frequency rank
- #35,424
- “neath” frequency rank
- 69181
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nears | neath |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of near | Beneath. |
Where the eye mixes nears and neath
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: nears vs neath
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nears is /nɪə(ɹ)z/ while neath is /niːθ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69181, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
nears is recorded at frequency rank #33,757, classified as averb, pronounced /nɪə(ɹ)z/. neath is at rank #35,424, tagged as aprep, pronounced /niːθ/.
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 69181, this pair ranks #55,638 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of nears vs neath
Shared letters: aen. Private to "nears": rs. Private to "neath": ht.
"nears" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "neath" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "nears" for "neath" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "nears" or "neath" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "nears" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "neath" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #55,638 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "nears" and "neath" 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 #55,638 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.