Which to use
“tear” and “teared” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,985
- “tear” frequency rank
- #47,956
- “teared” frequency rank
- 51941
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tear | teared |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate. | simple past and past participle of tear (“produce liquid from the eyes”) |
Where the eye mixes tear and teared
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: tear vs teared
A purely visual mix-up. tear (/tɛə/) and teared (/tɪə(ɹ)d/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “tear” sits inside “teared”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51941, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tear is recorded at frequency rank #3,985, classified as averb, pronounced /tɛə/. teared is at rank #47,956, tagged as averb, pronounced /tɪə(ɹ)d/.
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 51941, this pair ranks #161,229 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tear vs teared
Shared letters: aert. Private to "tear": -. Private to "teared": d.
"tear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "teared" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tear" and "teared" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "tear" or "teared"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "tear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "teared" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #161,229 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tear" and "teared" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "teared vs thawed". 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 #161,229 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.