Tear or tier?
tear is a verb meaning “To rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling…”; tier is a noun meaning “One who ties (knots, etc.)”. Use tear as a verb and tier as a noun (tier is also a verb: “To arrange in layers”). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) tear is about 1.5 times as common as tier.
What is the difference between tear and tier?
| tear | tier | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun | noun, verb |
| Meaning | To rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate To injure as if by pulling apart A hole or break caused by tearing | One who ties (knots, etc.) Something that ties A row or range, especially one at a higher or lower level than another |
| Example | He tore his coat on the nail | Stoke City were playing in the second tier of English football before being promoted to the Premier League |
| Forms | tears, tearing, tore, torn tears, tearing, teared | tiers |
| Pronunciation | /tɛə/ /tɛː/ /tɛɹ/ | /ˈtaɪ.ə/ /ˈtaɪ.ɚ/ /ˈtɪə/ |
| In writing | 22 times per million words | 14 times per million words |
Sources: tear and tier 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 tear and tier
tear
- 1
To rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate
He tore his coat on the nail
- 2
A hole or break caused by tearing
A small tear is easy to mend, if it is on the seam
- 3
A drop of clear, salty liquid produced from the eyes by crying or irritation
Big tears streamed from Lisa's eyes, rolling down her cheeks
- 4
To produce tears
Her eyes began to tear in the harsh wind
- 5
To injure as if by pulling apart
He tore some muscles in a weight-lifting accident
- 6
slangA rampage
to go on a tear
- 7
Something in the form of a transparent drop of fluid matter; also, a solid, transparent, tear-shaped drop, as of some balsams or resins
- 8
To destroy or reduce abstract unity or coherence, such as social, political or emotional
He was torn by conflicting emotions
tier
- 1
One who ties (knots, etc.)
- 2
A row or range, especially one at a higher or lower level than another
- 3
To arrange in layers
- 4
Something that ties
- 5
A rank or grade; a stratum
Stoke City were playing in the second tier of English football before being promoted to the Premier League
- 6
To cascade in an overlapping sequence
- 7
AustraliaA (typically forested) range of hills or mountains, especially in South Australia or Tasmania; a mountain
- 8
To move (data) from one storage medium to another as an optimization, based on how frequently it is accessed
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, tear or tier?
tear appears 22 times per million words; tier 14 times per million words.
tear 22 times per million wordstier 14 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).