Pare or pear?
pare is a verb meaning “To remove the outer covering or skin of something with a cutting device…”; pear is a noun meaning “An edible fruit produced by the pear tree, similar to an apple but typically…”. Use pare as a verb and pear as a noun. They sound the same (/pɛə/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) pear is about 4.8 times as common as pare.
What is the difference between pare and pear?
| pare | pear | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb | noun |
| Meaning | 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 | An edible fruit produced by the pear tree, similar to an apple but typically elongated towards the stem A type of fruit tree (Pyrus communis) An indigenous group in Cambodia and Thailand |
| Example | Victor pared some apples in preparation to make a tart | none recorded |
| Forms | pares, paring, pared | pears |
| Pronunciation | /pɛə/ /pɛɹ/ /peː/ | /pɛə/ /pɛː/ /pɛɹ/ |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words | 3.0 times per million words |
Sources: pare and pear 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 pare and pear
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
pear
- 1
An edible fruit produced by the pear tree, similar to an apple but typically elongated towards the stem
- 2
An indigenous group in Cambodia and Thailand
- 3
A type of fruit tree (Pyrus communis)
- 4
The wood of the pear tree (pearwood, pear wood)
- 5
Choke pear (a torture device)
- 6
avocado, alligator pear
- 7
A desaturated chartreuse yellow colour, like that of a pear
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, pare or pear?
pare appears about once in every 2 million words; pear 3.0 times per million words.
pare about once in every 2 million wordspear 3.0 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).