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Pear or peer?

pear is a noun meaning “An edible fruit produced by the pear tree, similar to an apple but typically…”; peer is a verb meaning “To look with difficulty, or as if searching for something”. Use pear as a noun and peer as a verb (peer is also a noun: “A look; a glance”). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) peer is about 4.7 times as common as pear.

pearorpeer

What is the difference between pear and peer?

pearpeer
Part of speechnounverb, noun
Meaning

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

To look with difficulty, or as if searching for something

A look; a glance

Somebody who is, or something that is, at a level or of a value equal (to that of something else)

Examplenone recordedAs if thro’ a dungeon grate he peer’d With broad and burning face
Formspearspeers, peering, peered
Pronunciation/pɛə/ /pɛː/ /pɛɹ//pɪə/ /pɪː/ /pɪjə/
In writing3.0 times per million words14 times per million words

Sources: pear and peer 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 pear and peer

pear

  1. 1

    noun An edible fruit produced by the pear tree, similar to an apple but typically elongated towards the stem

  2. 2

    noun An indigenous group in Cambodia and Thailand

  3. 3

    noun A type of fruit tree (Pyrus communis)

  4. 4

    noun The wood of the pear tree (pearwood, pear wood)

  5. 5

    noun Choke pear (a torture device)

  6. 6

    noun avocado, alligator pear

  7. 7

    noun A desaturated chartreuse yellow colour, like that of a pear

peer

  1. 1

    verb To look with difficulty, or as if searching for something

    As if thro’ a dungeon grate he peer’d With broad and burning face

  2. 2

    noun A look; a glance

  3. 3

    noun Somebody who is, or something that is, at a level or of a value equal (to that of something else)

  4. 4

    verb To make equal in rank

  5. 5

    noun informalSomeone who pees, someone who urinates

  6. 6

    noun Someone who is approximately the same age (as someone else)

  7. 7

    verb To carry communications traffic terminating on one's own network on an equivalency basis to and from another network, usually without charge or payment. Contrast with transit where one pays another…

  8. 8

    noun A noble with a title, i.e., a peerage, and in times past, with certain rights and privileges not enjoyed by commoners

    a peer of the realm

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, pear or peer?

pear appears 3.0 times per million words; peer 14 times per 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 pear vs peer?

“pear vs peer” is searched about 20 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“peer vs pear”, “pear or peer”).

Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.

The words