Shear or sheer?
shear is a verb meaning “To remove the fleece from (a sheep, llama, etc.) by clipping”; sheer is an adjective meaning “Very thin or transparent”. Use shear as a verb and sheer as an adjective (sheer is also a verb: “To swerve from a course”). They sound the same (/ʃɪə/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) sheer is about 4.1 times as common as shear.
What is the difference between shear and sheer?
| shear | sheer | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun | adjective, adverb, noun, verb |
| Meaning | To remove the fleece from (a sheep, llama, etc.) by clipping To cut the hair of (a person) A cutting tool similar to scissors, but often larger | Very thin or transparent Downright; complete; pure A sheer curtain or fabric |
| Example | shear the llamas | Her light, sheer dress caught everyone’s attention |
| Forms | shears, shearing, sheared, shore, shorn | sheerer, sheerest |
| Pronunciation | /ʃɪə/ /ʃɪː/ /ʃɪjə/ | /ʃɪə̯/ /ʃɪː/ /ˈʃɪj.ə/ |
| In writing | 2.5 times per million words | 10 times per million words |
Sources: shear and sheer 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 shear and sheer
shear
- 1
To remove the fleece from (a sheep, llama, etc.) by clipping
shear the llamas
- 2
A cutting tool similar to scissors, but often larger
- 3
To cut the hair of (a person)
shear the afro off someone's head
- 4
A large machine use for cutting sheet metal
- 5
To cut, originally with a sword or other bladed weapon, now usually with shears, or as if using shears
- 6
The act of shearing, or something removed by shearing
- 7
To deform because of forces pushing in opposite directions
- 8
Forces that push in opposite directions
sheer
- 1
Very thin or transparent
Her light, sheer dress caught everyone’s attention
- 2
A sheer curtain or fabric
Use sheers to maximize natural light
- 3
The curve of the main deck or gunwale from bow to stern
- 4
To swerve from a course
- 5
Downright; complete; pure
I think it is sheer genius to invent such a thing
- 6
An abrupt swerve from the course of a ship
- 7
Used to emphasize the amount or degree of something
The army's sheer size made it impossible to resist
- 8
Very steep; almost vertical or perpendicular
It was a sheer drop of 180 feet
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, shear or sheer?
shear appears 2.5 times per million words; sheer 10 times per million words.
shear 2.5 times per million wordssheer 10 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 shear vs sheer?
“shear vs sheer” is searched about 2,400 times a month on Google and 70 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“sheer vs shear”, “shear or sheer”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.