Pair or pare?
pair is a noun meaning “Two alike or identical things taken together; often followed by of”; pare is a verb meaning “To remove the outer covering or skin of something with a cutting device…”. Use pair as a noun and pare as a verb (pair is also a verb: “To group into one or more sets of two”). They sound the same (/pɛə/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) pair is about 85 times as common as pare.
What is the difference between pair and pare?
| pair | pare | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | verb |
| Meaning | Two alike or identical things taken together; often followed by of One of the constituent items that make up a pair To group into one or more sets of two | To remove the outer covering or skin of something with a cutting device, typically a knife To reduce, diminish or trim gradually something as if by cutting off |
| Example | I couldn't decide which of the pair of designer shirts I preferred, so I bought the pair | Victor pared some apples in preparation to make a tart |
| Forms | pairs | pares, paring, pared |
| Pronunciation | /pɛə/ /pɛɹ/ /peː/ | /pɛə/ /pɛɹ/ /peː/ |
| In writing | 52 times per million words | about once in every 2 million words |
Sources: pair and pare 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 pair and pare
pair
- 1
Two alike or identical things taken together; often followed by of
I couldn't decide which of the pair of designer shirts I preferred, so I bought the pair
- 2
To group into one or more sets of two
The wedding guests were paired boy/girl and groom's party/bride's party
- 3
One of the constituent items that make up a pair
- 4
to link two electronic devices wirelessly together, especially through a protocol such as Bluetooth
It was not possible to pair my smartphone with an incompatible smartwatch
- 5
Two people in a relationship, partnership or friendship
Spouses should make a great pair
- 6
To bring two (animals, notably dogs) together for mating
- 7
Used with binary nouns (often in the plural to indicate multiple instances, since such nouns are plural only, except in some technical contexts)
a pair of scissors; two pairs of spectacles; several pairs of jeans
- 8
To come together for mating
pare
- 1
To remove the outer covering or skin of something with a cutting device, typically a knife
Victor pared some apples in preparation to make a tart
- 2
To reduce, diminish or trim gradually something as if by cutting off
Albert had to pare his options down by disregarding anything beyond his meager budget
- 3
To trim the hoof of a horse
- 4
IrelandslangTo sharpen a pencil
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, pair or pare?
pair appears 52 times per million words; pare about once in every 2 million words.
pair 52 times per million wordspare about once in every 2 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search pair vs pare?
“pair vs pare” is searched about 480 times a month on Google and 20 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“pare vs pair”, “pair or pare”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.